Joe Biggs, leader of the Proud Boys militia, sentenced to 17 years in prison for assault on the Capitol

2023-08-31 23:34:57

Updated: Aug 31, 2023 | 23:34
31 ago 2023 | 23:33

The leader of the extreme right-wing militia Proud Boys Joe Biggs has been sentenced this Thursday to 17 years in prison on charges of seditious conspiracy in the framework of the attacks on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2020.

Biggs, a US Army veteran who was wounded while serving in Iraq and later worked for the Infowars conspiracy website, was convicted in May of seditious conspiracy and other charges.

District Judge Timothy Kelly has argued that although he did not want to “minimize the violence that occurred” during those days, it was necessary to take stock so as not to create great disparities between the sentences of the defendants, according to CNN.

“I’m done with everything. I’m sick and tired of the fight of the left against the right,” Biggs said during the trial, in which he has come to ask for forgiveness, assuring that he is not a “terrorist”, as the chain has collected NBC News.

Prosecutors had initially sought a 33-year prison sentence. In the trial, which has lasted nearly a month, evidence has been presented that Biggs and other defendants, including Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl and Enrique Tarrio, conspired and encouraged violence prior to the assault.

The judge has also sentenced Rehl to 15 years in prison, who came to spray the law enforcement officers with chemicals in the course of the assault. Prosecutors had requested up to 30 years in prison for him, according to the CBS chain.

“I’m sick of politics. I’m sick of selling lies to people who don’t care about me. January 6 was a despicable day,” Rehl said during the trial. For his part, Tarrio will go to court on Tuesday.

While members of the Proud Boys remained at the forefront of attacks on overstretched Capitol police officers, according to recordings from that day, Nordean, Biggs and Rehl took a back seat, letting others lead the assault, only to join later. .

Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers, another of the militias involved in the riots during the assault, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy, the highest sentence imposed for these events.