Tampa, Florida—On Monday, September 9, 2024, the free speech trial of Chairman Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel began its second week.

Proceedings were delayed because two jurors had not arrived. One of the missing jurors arrived late and then at 9:45am, Judge William Jung declared that he would give the other absent juror 30 more minutes and then would remove her from the jury. 

Attorney Mutaqee Akbar raised the fact that the missing juror was the only African on the jury. He asked the judge to replace her with the sole African juror in the pool of alternates who have been seated in the jury box throughout the trial. 

The judge refused and seated a white juror. The 12-person jury now has no African members.

Defense cross-examines the FBI’s lead investigator

Uhuru 3 attorneys forced the lead investigator, and FBI’s star witness, to admit that there was no evidence to prove accusations made in the DOJ’s indictment. They exposed as lies the DOJ statements that there was Russian interference in the mayoral campaign of Jesse Nevel.

• Uhuru 3 attorney: “Do you have any evidence of Russian interference in the 2017 St. Petersburg, Florida mayoral campaign of Jesse Nevel?” FBI: “No”
• Uhuru 3 attorney: “Why was that accusation included in the indictment?” FBI: “I didn’t write the indictment.”
• Uhuru 3 attorney: “When you were in discussions with the DOJ about the indictments, you were aware that there was no evidence of Russian interference in Jesse Nevel’s electoral campaign?” FBI: “Yes.”
• Uhuru 3 attorney: “So a press release was issued saying that the Russian government was interfering in U.S elections through Jesse Nevel’s campaign while you knew there was absolutely no evidence of that.” FBI: “Yes.”

The government claimed that the Uhuru Movement’s petition charging the U.S. government with genocide was a Russian invention. Uhuru 3 Attorney Leonard Goodman asked the witness if she was aware of the “We Charge Genocide” petition, submitted by black leaders to the U.N. in 1951. She was not. 

Jury begins to know the APSP

Despite their intentions, the government’s evidence and witnesses introduced to the jury the philosophy and history of the African People’s Socialist Party and its philosophy of African Internationalism. They showed a video of Jesse Nevel describing the Uhuru Movement’s position that the land of the Americas belongs to the Indigenous people. 

The government played recordings of Zoom meetings to plan a protest against Facebook’s censorship. In these recordings, Chairman Omali described the basis for the APSP’s opposition to Facebook. It overlapped with Russian concerns, but went further. Facebook is owned by rich white people to dumb the population down. Chairman Omali explained that Facebook is tied to NATO when it blocks divergent views on the conflict in Ukraine. This role is reflected in the participation of Mark Zuckerberg in the annual Munich Security Conference and Facebook’s cooperation with U.S. intelligence surveillance efforts.

Uhuru 3 Attorney Goodman asked the lead FBI case agent if she had ever read the platform of the African People’s Socialist Party. She had not. Goodman explained that this platform was adopted in 1979 and remains the same today.

Monday’s proceedings concluded the cross examination and redirect of the prosecutor’s main witness the FBI special agent in charge of the surveillance and frame-up of the Uhuru 3. Tuesday, the government will bring one more witness and present closing arguments. Then the Uhuru 3’s defense will be presented.

Supporters are encouraged to attend the trial in Tampa, beginning at 9am at the Federal Court Building.

Follow the case on HandsOffUhuru.org.