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A year and a week after the assault on the

the first defendants were arrested this Thursday for conspiring to sedition in this case, a crime that according to the US criminal code carries sentences of up to 20 years in prison. .

Among those arrested is

the leader and founder of one of the country's leading far-right organizations,

.

In a statement, the

announced the arrest of Rhodes, 56, in the Texas town of

on Thursday morning and ten other people in different parts of the country.

Until these arrests there were 725 people accused of the assault on the headquarters of the US Congress, according to data provided two days ago by the Department of Justice.

On January 6, 2021, a mob of supporters of former President

(2017-2021) stormed the Capitol when a joint session of the chambers was held to ratify the victory of the Democrat and now president,

in the November elections. previous.

Shortly before, Trump delivered a fiery speech from the

where he encouraged his supporters to march on Capitol Hill amid his baseless accusations that Democrats committed voter fraud in that vote.

This is the first time that Rhodes has been formally accused before the Justice for the events of January 6 and it is also the first time that those allegedly involved in the assault - which claimed the lives of five people - have been charged with conspiracy to sedition.

law professor Stephen Gillers

stressed to Efe that the charge of sedition conspiracy is "the most serious" of all those that have been charged to date, and implies that the detainees are accused of having planned "wage war" against the government and "overthrow" it.

It no longer matters whether these people entered the Capitol or not - Rhodes has always said that they did not - because they are accused of having planned that attack, he added.

Today's accusation shows, in Gillers' opinion, that the investigation being carried out is "much more detailed" than could be expected so far and suggests that many of those previously arrested have collaborated with the Justice to help clarify the facts and at the same time receive minor sentences.

Collaborate to reduce the penalty

The expert believes that some of the accused this Thursday will also lend themselves to collaborating to avoid spending twenty years in federal prison.

Even, he pointed out to Efe, it can encourage them to provide information that implicates members of the

According to the Justice statement, Rhodes and the rest of those arrested this Thursday

US presidential election on November 3, 2020, which Biden won, to "forcefully oppose the execution of the laws that govern the transfer of power presidential".

Thus, according to the indictment, since the end of December 2020, the defendants coordinated among themselves through

through private applications and planned their trip to the capital, Washington, for the day the electoral results were to be ratified. -January 6th-.

Rhodes and his cronies made plans to bring weapons into the area to support the operation.

The Oath Keepers are a

, in the words of the Department of Justice, linked to

and, although they accept anyone as a member, they focus their recruitment efforts on ex-military, police and first aid personnel.

To date, the

has filed

residents across the United States, for crimes ranging from physically attacking police officers to impeding the performance of their duties, to for destroying government property and entering a restricted access building.

The largest sentence issued to date - released on December 17 - fell on a man who attacked police officers with a fire extinguisher and was sentenced to five years and three months in prison.

The arrests come a month after District of Columbia Attorney General

announced a lawsuit against Oath Keepers and another far-right group,

for the Capitol storming, in which five people were killed and nearly 140 agents were attacked.

With this lawsuit, the prosecutor considered these organizations responsible for the events, which he came to compare with the attacks of September 11, 2001. "But this time," Racine lamented, "our own citizens were determined to destroy the freedoms and ideals upon which our country was founded.

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