Houston: Enrique Tarrio, the former National Chairman of the far-right group Proud Boys, was sentenced to 22 years in jail for his role in the January 6, 2021, riot on the US Capitol.
Tarrio was convicted of “seditious conspiracy and conspiracy to obstruct the counting of electoral votes” during the transfer of power of the White House following the 2020 elections, Xinhua news agency reported.
In that counting by the US Congress, Democrat Joe Biden won 306 votes versus 232 for then the Republican incumbent, Donald Trump.
The sentence is the longest given to anyone involved in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
“The jury didn’t convict anyone for engaging in politics, they convicted Tarrio and others of engaging in seditious conspiracy,” District Judge Timothy Kelly said on Tuesday.
Before being sentenced, Tarrio apologised for the “pain and suffering” stemmed from the Capitol riot, and vowed to have “nothing to do with politics, groups, activism or rallies”.
“This trial has shown me how wrong I was,” he said.
“My client is a misguided patriot. That’s what my client is…he thought he was saving this country, saving this republic,” said Tarrio’s lawyer Sabino Jauregui on Tuesday.
Tarrio is the last of five Proud Boys defendants to be sentenced. According to the indictment, on January 6, 2021, the defendants directed, mobilised, and led members of the crowd onto the Capitol grounds and into the Capitol, leading to the dismantling of metal barricades, destruction of property, and assaults on law enforcement.
Although Tarrio is not accused of physically taking part in the breach of the Capitol, the indictment accused him of leading the advance planning and remaining in contact with other members of the Proud Boys during their breach of the Capitol.
Tarrio was arrested on January 4, 2021, on a warrant charging him in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia with the destruction of property in December 2020, burning of a ‘Black Lives Matter’ banner. He was released on January 5, 2021. As a condition of his release, he was ordered by the court to stay out of Washington, D.C.
Thousands of demonstrators surrounded the US Capitol building to dispute the outcome of the 2020 presidential election on January 6, 2021. Five deaths have been linked by authorities to the mayhem. Four officers who responded to the attack reportedly died by suicide within the next several months.
–IANS