https://en.sputniknews.africa/20230705/fbi-trashed-home-of-pan-african-party-founder-accused-of-aiding-russia-activist-says-1060342934.html
FBI Trashed Home of Pan-African Party Founder Accused of Aiding Russia, Activist Says
FBI Trashed Home of Pan-African Party Founder Accused of Aiding Russia, Activist Says
Sputnik Africa
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The FBI used flashbangs and armored vehicles to storm the St. Louis, Missouri home of African-American activist Omali Yeshitela, busting... 05.07.2023, Sputnik Africa
2023-07-05T10:24+0200
2023-07-05T10:24+0200
2023-08-03T10:50+0200
united states (us)
police
pan-africanism
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international
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The founder of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) was charged alongside three fellow activists with conspiring with Ionov, the president of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR), to "act as agents of Russia in the United States." "Omali is 81 years old and his wife is in her 70s. FBI SWAT teams arrived on two armored vehicles. They deployed drones and busted doors and windows and threw flashbangs. All of this to get to two elderly people," said the Russian human rights activist and anti-globalist wanted in the United States for alleged election meddling.The two were tackled to the floor and then led out into the street where they stood in shackles for hours. A minor was shot in the head and died during the raid, Ionov said. Three other suspects were released on bail. The Russian activist argued that Omali faces a lengthy prison term because of his political convictions. According to Ionov, the US government is putting pressure on its citizens for any expression of an alternative opinion about the Russian special military operation in Ukraine.He noted that most of the accusations against him in the US were related to the expression of his opinion on Ukraine.The activist believes this process is needed to create a precedent to intimidate others, including Russians who live in the US.Ionov added that law enforcement officers can come to the home to those who express a different position, put them in handcuffs and take them to the police station, and in some cases threaten them with up to 10 years in jail.The US Department of Justice has offered a $10 million reward for evidence of meddling by Ionov or his alleged APSP associates. The indictment claims that Ionov helped fund a protest tour in 2016 in support of a petition criticizing the "genocide" of African people in the United States and directed the political campaign of a candidate for local office in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 2019.
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united states (us), police, pan-africanism, activism, international
united states (us), police, pan-africanism, activism, international
FBI Trashed Home of Pan-African Party Founder Accused of Aiding Russia, Activist Says
10:24 05.07.2023 (Updated: 10:50 03.08.2023) MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The FBI used flashbangs and armored vehicles to storm the St. Louis, Missouri home of African-American activist Omali Yeshitela, busting doors and shattering windows in a pre-dawn raid last July to capture the 81-year-old, Russian activist Alexander Ionov told Sputnik.
The founder of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) was charged alongside three fellow activists with conspiring with Ionov, the president of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR), to "act as agents of Russia in the United States."
"At five o'clock in the morning, an army of FBI, SWAT teams — hundreds of agents — pulled up at the APSP office and cordoned off the entire neighborhood, like Osama bin Laden and al-Baghdadi were inside," Ionov told Sputnik in an interview.
"Omali is 81 years old and his wife is in her 70s. FBI SWAT teams arrived on two armored vehicles. They deployed drones and busted doors and windows and threw flashbangs. All of this to get to two elderly people," said the Russian human rights activist and anti-globalist wanted in the United States for alleged election meddling.
The two were tackled to the floor and then led out into the street where they stood in shackles for hours. A minor was shot in the head and died during the raid, Ionov said. Three other suspects were released on bail. The Russian activist argued that Omali faces a lengthy prison term because of his political convictions.
According to Ionov, the US government is putting pressure on its citizens for any expression of an alternative opinion about the Russian special military operation in Ukraine.
"Americans today do not have legal, lawful and appropriate ways to fight in the information field for common sense on the Ukrainian issue," Ionov said.
He noted that most of the accusations against him in the US were related to the expression of his opinion on Ukraine.
"The indictment consists of three points. Creation of an illegal network of agents. Work on behalf of the government of the Russian Federation. And third, as they wrote it, disseminating Putin's propaganda. That is, I am the first person whom the US officially accuses and prosecutes for a position on the military operation," Ionov added.
The activist believes this process is needed to create a precedent to intimidate others, including Russians who live in the US.
"In fact, through my criminal case, they legalize the possibility of repression against their own civil society," Ionov said.
Ionov added that law enforcement officers can come to the home to those who express a different position, put them in handcuffs and take them to the police station, and in some cases threaten them with up to 10 years in jail.
The US Department of Justice has offered a $10 million reward for evidence of meddling by Ionov or his alleged APSP associates. The indictment claims that Ionov helped fund a protest tour in 2016 in support of a petition criticizing the "genocide" of African people in the United States and directed the political campaign of a candidate for local office in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 2019.
