two leaders of the Proud Boys sentenced to seventeen years and fifteen years in prison

Two leaders of the far-right American group Proud Boys were sentenced on Thursday August 31 to seventeen and fifteen years in prison for their role in the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 in Washington.

Prosecutors had asked for 33 years in prison against Joseph Biggs, a former soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, for leading some 200 members of the Proud Boys to the Capitol, the seat of Congress in the United States, in an attempt to prevent certification of Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump.

They had requested thirty years against Zachary Rehl, former marine, son and grandson of police officers from Philadelphia (northeast), for having participated in the coordination of the assault, sprayed a policeman with irritating gas and then having lied under oath denying having assaulted anyone.

These are two of the heaviest sentences handed down by American justice in this case, even though most legal commentators expected harsher sentences. Judge Timothy Kelly took into account the aggravating circumstances for acts of terrorism requested by the prosecutors, but underlined that he had not followed the requisitions on the grounds that the defendants “did not intend to kill”.

This day of January 6, 2021 “broken our tradition of the peaceful transfer of power, one of the most precious things we had as Americans”lamented the judge, insisting that those days were over.

“Guilty of having believed the president”

“January 6 was a despicable day”gasped at the bar, shaken with sobs, Zachary Rehl, who like Joseph Biggs before him expressed his regrets and his disgust with politics. “I know I did wrong that day but I am not a terrorist”had assured the latter, gray hair and beard, revealing tattoos on his forearms, in tears several times at the mention of his daughter and his mother.

In May, the two defendants were convicted on six counts, including sedition, along with other Proud Boys leaders. Two other defendants will follow on Friday, before the leader of the group, Enrique Tarrio, on September 5.

Prosecutor Jason McCullough argued in court about the seriousness of the Capitol assault and the need for deterrent sentences. “There is a reason why we will have to hold our breath in the next election”he said, saying the attackers had “wanted to intimidate and terrify” all who opposed them. But the lawyer for the two defendants, Norman Pattis, pleaded that they were first “guilty of having believed the president who told them that their country was being stolen from them”.

In their written reasons in support of their submissions, the prosecutors describe the defendants as “right-wing foot soldiers who wanted to keep their leader in power”in reference to Donald Trump, who claimed that the election had been “volley”. “Biggs behaved as the spearhead of the attack on January 6”describing in a podcast the day after the events the assault on “warning shot” for the institutions, according to them.

Hundreds of convictions

Since the January 6, 2021 attack, more than 1,100 people have been arrested and charged. More than half were sentenced, mostly to prison terms. The heaviest sentence handed down to date, eighteen years in prison, was given to the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, Stewart Rhodes.

In his written submissions to the court for Thursday’s hearings, Norman Pattis, who represents both Messrs. Biggs and Rehl, points out that only after more than hundreds of convictions of “ordinary citizens” that “The former President of the United States has been indicted for his role in today’s events”.

Donald Trump was charged in August by a federal court in Washington and by the justice of the state of Georgia (Southeast) for his attempts to obtain the reversal of the results of the 2020 election. “It appears that those who had the most to gain from the disruption of the vote count on January 6, 2021 were the last to be prosecuted”he wondered.