By the author
LHe is the founder of the Oath Guards, Stewart Rhodes, and another member of this far-right militia, who on Tuesday became the first participant in the storming of the Capitol accused of “treason”.
After a two-month trial and three days of deliberations in a federal court in Washington, on the other hand, twelve jurors rejected the rare charge, and three other members of the Oath Guard were sentenced to 20 years in prison.
All five were found guilty of obstruction of official process. They will be sentenced in the spring of 2023.
On January 6, 2021, when elected officials certified the victory of Democrat Joe Biden in the presidential election, they attacked the American temple of democracy with a thousand supporters of Donald Trump.
Since the coup that shocked the world, more than 870 people have been arrested and more than a hundred have been jailed, including those involved in violence against the police. However, no one has been convicted in the “sedition case” so far.
The charge stems from a law passed to suppress the last rebels in the South after the Civil War, and plans to use force to oppose the government. It differs from rebellion, which is more spontaneous in nature.
During the trial, prosecutors said the oath-keepers bought weapons and war equipment and stored them in a hotel near Washington. On D-Day, wearing helmets and battle gear, they marched into the Capitol in battle formation.
Stewart Rhodes was away, but according to prosecutors, he directed his troops by radio “like a general on the battlefield.”
On the witness stand, this tribunal, recognizable by his black dot, denied that the attack had been “planned” and maintained that the “mission” of the sworn guards was to ensure the safety of the demonstration called by Donald Trump to denounce the election fraud” (its existence was never established).
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