Tampa, FL—On Thursday, September 5, the 3rd day of the Uhuru 3 free speech trial, supporters continued to pack the court. Nearly 100 people were seated in courtroom 17, the largest in Tampa’s Federal Courthouse. More supporters watched from the overflow room on the 3rd floor.
Luminaries came from around the U.S. to attend the free speech trial of the century. Present in court on Day Three was Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee veteran Efia Nwangaza, Pam Africa of the MOVE Family Africa, Nesbit Crutchfield of the Venceremos Brigade and Miami Coalition to End the Blockade on Cuba, Cheryl LaBash, Co-Chair of the National Network on Cuba, members of the December 12th Movement, a representative of the Partisan Defense Committee, Benjamín Prado and a contingent from Unión del Barrio, Paul Pumphrey of Friends of the Congo, Zaki Baruti of the Universal African People’s Organization, Belinda Parker Brown from Louisiana United International, John McCarthy from the Center for Political Innovation and Jihad Abdulmumit, Chairperson of the National Jericho Movement to support political prisoners.
The government continued to trot out their pitiful “witnesses.” FBI “special agent” Anna Myers is a former Vero Beach police officer who serves the U.S. secret police as a so-called Russian counterintelligence specialist for the FBI. She testified that she had spent a mere six months reviewing evidence for the case of the Uhuru 3, from January to July of 2022, just prior to the FBI’s military raid of seven homes and offices of the Uhuru Movement.
Myers took up several hours of everyone’s time. The jury was shown images on screen showing activities of the Uhuru Movement. These included Africans Charge Genocide rallies, marches to stop police violence, educational webinars, marches for justice following the murder of George Floyd and marches for reparations sponsored by the Uhuru Solidarity Movement.
Everyone could plainly see the real work of the Uhuru Movement on behalf of the African working class during a time when masses of people were participating in the fightback against U.S. colonial terror targeting the black community.
Myers also described images purported to be screen shots of communications and social media posts that the government falsely claimed were proof that the African People’s Socialist Party conspired with the Russians to sow discord in America.
The Uhuru 3 attorneys raised objection after objection, exposing the government’s so-called “evidence” as hearsay and speculation. During the cross examination of Myers, they revealed her testimony and so-called “investigation” to be a lazy fabrication.
Attorney Akbar pointed out many instances of misidentification of basic information in her reports. He got her to admit she was not actually familiar with most of the webinars and activities that she presented as evidence of sowing discord.
Attorney Griffin forced Myers to confess that she had no personal knowledge and had not done an actual investigation into the case. She didn’t actually speak with anyone. She made assumptions based on what she read on a computer screen.
Attorney Leonard Goodman asked the question, “Is it damaging to the national security of the United States to demand justice and reparations, to protest police violence, to protest U.S. wars, even the Ukraine war? To which Myers had to answer no, no, no and then no.
The government’s other witnesses for day three spent their time on the stand describing photos of the computers, hard drives and literature that was seized during the FBI raids on seven Uhuru homes and offices on July 29, 2022.
The prosecutors said they will have one more day of witnesses and will present their closing argument on Monday. The government’s case is weak. It is nothing but lies, hearsay and speculation. The Uhuru 3 are innocent!
The people continue to stand strong for this fight for anti-colonial free speech and for the right to organize for justice and self-determination.
Watch the official Uhuru 3 trial broadcast reporting on Day Three from outside the Tampa Federal Courthouse:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C73iv9vfCcY
Translations of the report on Day 3: Spanish | French
