Originally published in the Winter/Spring 2025 edition of the Virginia Defender, issue 76, printed March 26. Reproduced here for accessibility and archival purposes. To find other stories in the Winter/Spring 2025 issue or to download the full PDF, see this post. For other issues dating back to 2012, see the Full Issues page.

Staff Report

It was an overflow crowd Dec. 16 in the Tampa, Fla., courtroom where the Uhuru 3 were to be sentenced, and cheers erupted when U.S. District Court Judge William Jung declared, “No one’s going to prison; no one’s going to be fined.”

It was a great victory, not only for the three defendants, but for everyone with the courage to speak out against U.S. foreign policy.

The Uhuru 3 are African People’s Socialist Party Chairman Omali Yeshitela, African People’s Solidarity Committee Chair Penny Hess and Uhuru Solidarity Movement Chair Jesse Nevel. Their organizations had been outspoken in opposing the U.S. government position on the war in Ukraine.

In September, they were found not guilty of acting as unregistered Russian agents, but guilty of conspiring to act as Russian agents. They are appealing the conspiracy conviction.

Instead of prison time or fines, Judge Jung sentenced the trio to three years probation and 300 hours of community service on the conspiracy conviction. Each had faced a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

“If not for the requirement to register as a foreign agent, everything in the indictment would be legal and protected speech,” the judge said.

After the hearing, Chairman Omali, 84, stated: “The only reason we didn’t get prison time is because we fought back against this government attack. We fought! Our lawyers were outstanding! The jury affirmed that we work for Black people, not Russia.”

Judge Jung acknowledged receiving more than 1,600 “character” letters in support of the Uhuru 3. Among those was one from the editor of The Virginia Defender, who had spoken at several APSP rallies in support of the 3.