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Ex-Proud Boys leader sentenced to 22 years for US Capitol attack

06 Sep 2023 09:02am
Leader of the Proud Boys Enrique Tarrio (L), wearing a shirt supporting Derek Chauvin, joins a counter-protest where people gathered to remember George Floyd on the one-year anniversary of his death at the hands of Minneapolis police officer, including Chauvin, in Miami on May 25, 2021. - FILE PIX by AFP
Leader of the Proud Boys Enrique Tarrio (L), wearing a shirt supporting Derek Chauvin, joins a counter-protest where people gathered to remember George Floyd on the one-year anniversary of his death at the hands of Minneapolis police officer, including Chauvin, in Miami on May 25, 2021. - FILE PIX by AFP

WASHINGTON - Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the far-right Proud Boys militia, was sentenced to 22 years in prison on Tuesday for his role in the 2021 attack on the US capital, the stiffest sentence handed out so far.

"That day broke our previously unbroken tradition of peacefully transferring power," US District Judge Timothy Kelly said during a nearly four-hour sentencing hearing in the nation's capital.

Prosecutors had sought a 33-year prison term for Tarrio, who was not in Washington on January 6, 2021 but was accused of directing the military-style assault on the Capitol by members of the Proud Boys.

The 39-year-old Tarrio and several other members of the Proud Boys were convicted of seditious conspiracy in May for their roles in the attempt to stop congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden's 2020 election victory over Donald Trump.

Another member of the Proud Boys, Ethan Nordean, 32, received an 18-year prison sentence from Judge Kelly last week.

Stewart Rhodes, the founder of another far-right militia central to the Capitol siege, the Oath Keepers, was also sentenced to 18 years in prison earlier this year. - AFP

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