Tampa, Florida - The Uhuru Three have been convicted on one of two criminal charges as the 12-member jury delivered its verdict in a historic free speech trial.

African People's Socialist Party (APSP) Chairman Omali Yeshitela (82) and leading Uhuru Movement solidarity organizers Penny Hess (78) and Jesse Nevel (34) were found not guilty of acting as Russian agents but were found guilty of conspiring to defraud the American government, US District Judge William Jung announced Thursday.

A fourth defendant – Gazi Kodzo, born Augustus Claudius Romain Jr. (38) – was also convicted of conspiracy. Kodzo founded the Black Hammer Party in Atlanta, Georgia, after getting kicking out of the Uhurus.

"I was really, really, really, really impressed by that jury – by that jury being able to say that Black people have agency," Yeshitela said in a press conference after the verdict was announced.

"That's what they said, that Black people have agency, that we have thoughts, we have plans, we have discussions, etc. And all this stuff they showed where we're supposed to be working for the Russians – and they brought in what was supposed to be evidence of that – it didn't work."

The jury returned the split verdict two days after closing arguments concluded in the case. During the Tampa Federal Court trial, the prosecution alleged that Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia President Alexander Viktorovich Ionov (34) had for seven years directed the Uhuru Movement to disseminate content and organize protests in line with Kremlin interests. This supposedly included a petition brought before the UN accusing the US of genocide of Black people.

Prosecutors also suggested that Ionov – who the Justice Department says was in regular contact with Russia's intelligence agency – had supported Uhuru members' local election campaigns, allegations the movement has rejected as false.

Attorneys for the Uhuru Three presented as evidence decades' worth of APSP materials opposing Western racism, militarism, and genocides and advocating for Black empowerment and reparations, noting that their message has been consistent since long before any meeting with Ionov.

The high-stakes trial came after the FBI – with the cooperation of local law enforcement – violently raided seven homes and offices of the APSP and the associated Uhuru Movement in St. Louis, Missouri, and St. Petersburg, Florida, in July 2022.

Nine months later, the US Department of Justice announced indictments in the case accusing Yeshitela, Hess, and Nevel of acting as "unregistered illegal agents of the Russian government" to "sow discord and spread pro-Russian propaganda."

The Uhuru Three have steadfastly denied the allegations against them, casting their historic trial as a referendum on free speech rights.

In fighting back against the charges, Yeshitela, Hess, and Nevel drew wide support from anti-war activists and advocates of reparations and Black liberation, including Green Party presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein.

"If you want to fight – and I say this to the US government – the African People's Socialist Party and Chairman Omali Yeshitela, you're getting in the ring with Muhammad Ali, and there's nothing you can do," Hess said during the press conference, casting the Uhuru Three indictments as an attempt to destroy white solidarity with the Black freedom struggle.

"What the chairman does is take even something that would be a defeat and turns it into a victory, because it's based in the support of the people. And so we have won."

A sentencing date in the case has not yet been announced. The conspiracy count has a five-year maximum sentence in federal prison, attorneys for the Uhuru Three said, while the foreign agent charge would have carried a 15-year maximum sentence.