US prosecutors requesting 33-year prison sentence for Proud Boys' leaders

MOSCOW - US prosecutors have asked District Judge Timothy J. Kelly to sentence Enrique Tarrio, the former head of the far-right militant group Proud Boys, and Joe Biggs, the group's current leader, to 33 years in prison in the case of the 2021 storming of the Capitol, reported Sputnik.

Prosecutors sought two to three decades in prison for other top members of the extremist organisation to deter those "who would mobilise such... violence in the future" after four group members were convicted of seditious conspiracy in the Capitol attack, The Washington Post reported on Friday, citing a statement from prosecutors' assistants.

In July, Proud Boys member Daniel Scott, who led a charge through a police line during the Capitol riot, was sentenced to five years in prison. In May, the US Justice Department secured the convictions of four Proud Boys members who played a central role in the Capitol breach. The members of the Proud Boys were accused of inciting demonstrators around the Capitol, urging people to move forward. However, defence attorneys argued that their clients never planned to breach the Capitol building.

On Jan 6, 2021, supporters of former US President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol in Washington to protest the certification of Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election. During the riot, one protester was shot by police, one officer was injured and later died from his injuries, and three others died from causes unrelated to the violence. - BERNAMA-SPUTNIK