Stewart Rhodes, founder of the far-right group Oath Keepers (Oath Keepers), and 10 other defendants, are charged with organizing “incitement to riot” as part of the investigation into the Capitol raid on January 6, 2021 in the United States (USA).
Stewart Rhodes, the leader and founder of the Oath Keepers group, was detained in Texas on Thursday morning, according to information shared by the US Department of Justice. The legal term “inciting riot conspiracy” in question also includes an attempt to “forcefully overthrow the government.” According to the information shared by the ministry, the case in question is the first case for Rhodes in which legal sanctions related to the raid on the US Capitol are also foreseen. Other members had previously been charged with different individual allegations.
Rhodes, 56, is accused of supporting the violence that could have hindered Joe Biden’s electoral victory. It is anticipated that Rhodes could face up to 20 years in prison for “inciting riot conspiracy”.
It is alleged that Rhodes and other defendants conspired to violently prevent a presidential change after the presidential elections in the USA. In this context, it is alleged that the defendants in question planned to travel to Washington, procure weapons and equipment, and organize war technique training.
It was stated that some of the defendants entered the US Capitol, while others were interested in the coordination of the building and outside the city.
What happened?
When senators and lawmakers in the US Congress in Washington DC met on January 6 last year to mark Joe Biden’s presidential victory, then-President Donald Trump was addressing his supporters. Far-right groups such as Proud Boys and QAnon, which come from all over the country and feed on the conspiracy theories of the right-wing media, also believed that Biden stole the 2020 US presidential election in line with Trump’s claims.
After the pressure, the impeachment process was started for the second time in Congress for Trump to be removed from his post before the presidential change will take place on January 20, 2021. However, although the process initiated for Trump passed the House of Representatives, it failed in the upper house of the US Congress, the Senate.
DW/AI, EC
© Deutsche Welle English