"Abuse of justice": why Congress was outraged by the content of the detained participants in the storming of the Capitol

Republican U.S. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green said in her Telegram channel that no other group of people has ever faced such a violation of rights as suspects in the United States who are involved in the Capitol storming case.

“No other group of people has been subjected to such a blatant violation of their constitutional rights as the participants in the events of January 6 (2021. -

) who did not commit any violence, who are being held in custody in the District of Columbia pre-trial detention center.

The House Oversight Committee will investigate violations and violations of fundamental human rights and ensure accountability where appropriate, ”Green said.

Recall that on January 6, 2021, a rally organized by supporters of the 45th US President Donald Trump against the ratification of the results of the presidential election, in which the victory was given to Democrat Joe Biden, turned into an assault on the Capitol.

As a result of the riots, five people were killed and more than 50 law enforcement officers were injured.

The elected head of the White House accused Trump of encouraging the storming of the Capitol, saying that rioters should be treated like "domestic terrorists."

Democrats in the US Congress also blamed Trump for what happened, demanding his impeachment, but they failed to achieve this.

Proceedings around the storming of the Capitol are still ongoing, a number of sentences have already been passed in this case, in particular, imprisonment for ten years.

Green also attached to her Telegram post a link to an article from The Washington Times, which says that she and her colleague, Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability of the US House of Representatives James Comer, sent a letter to the mayor of the District of Columbia, Muriel Bowser.

In the letter, they outlined "many allegations of bullying" against participants in the January 6 events held in the region's pre-trial detention center.

According to journalists, Green and Comer asked the mayor to organize a visit by a congressional delegation to inspect the places of detention.

“According to eyewitness accounts of the conditions of detention in the District of Columbia, especially with regard to the treatment of arrested participants in the events of January 6, despair and hopelessness reign there, and a flagrant abuse of justice is committed.

No prisoner in the United States should be treated like this,” the congressional letter says.

According to lawmakers, the defendants have not yet been convicted, but they are not allowed to see their families, lawyers, are fed food with chemicals and are not provided with medical care.

The document also notes that those arrested who are not related to the storming of the Capitol are treated better by the SIZO staff.

The Washington Times received a comment from the mayor's office saying that the congressmen's letter had been received, the DC administration would study it, and also give an "appropriate response."

Earlier, on March 6, the US Department of Justice published a press release on its website, which reported that about 1,000 people had been detained in the case of the storming of the Capitol.

• US Department of Justice

• AP

• © Patrick Semansky

“Still, under the leadership of the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia and the Washington branch of the FBI, investigations and proceedings against those responsible for the attack (on the Capitol. - RT ) continue with unprecedented speed and

.

The determination of the Ministry of Justice to bring to justice those who committed the crimes of January 6, 2021 has not weakened and will not weaken, ”the ministry said in a statement.

Representatives of the US Department of Justice emphasized that part of the trials have already taken place and sentences have been handed down in cases of about 420 individuals who were charged at the federal level "for the criminal acts committed by them" on January 6, 2021.

At the same time, about 220 people were sentenced to imprisonment "for this or that term." 

"Apply pressure"

Recall that Donald Trump himself is a defendant in the case of the storming of the Capitol.

A special commission was created in Congress to determine the degree of involvement of the former head of the White House in the events of January 6, and also whether the incident was an attempted coup.

In December 2022, the commission released a final report that included recommendations to the US Department of Justice to initiate a criminal prosecution of Trump on sedition charges.

As the document says, “the main reason” for the storming of the Capitol “was one person” - the 45th President of the United States, without whom, according to the commission, nothing would have happened.

In addition, the report contains a recommendation to ban Trump from continuing to hold the presidency.

Recall that on November 16, 2022, Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate his candidacy for the presidency in 2024.

The ex-president himself believes that by initiating an investigation into his role in the events of January 6, the Democrats want to prevent him from campaigning.

The American media also reported on the bias of the commission acting against Trump.

According to them, the commission includes seven Democrats and "two anti-Trumpist Republicans."

As Yury Rogulev, director of the Franklin Roosevelt Foundation for the Study of the United States at Moscow State University, noted, representatives of the Democratic Party and opponents of Trump are trying to actively investigate the case of the events of January 6 in order to prevent the former head of the White House from participating in the elections based on the data received.

“Republicans who are on the side of Trump, in turn, will maximize the coverage of human rights violations against prisoners in the case of the storming of the Capitol, and seek justice.

At the same time, the facts of “abuse of justice” that Green and Comer talk about can be used by Republicans in the election campaign against Biden, ”the expert said in an interview with RT.

According to Rogulev, given the information of American congressmen, it can be concluded that the prisoners in the case of the storming of the Capitol are deliberately oppressed in American pre-trial detention centers.

“It's no secret that the American penitentiary system is far from a sanatorium.

However, in relation to the suspects in the "January 6 case", according to reports from members of the US Congress, especially harsh conditions are being created in order to put pressure on them and force them to accept the charges against them, ”the analyst said.

"Gross Violations of Human Rights"

In turn, as Vladimir Shapovalov, deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics of Moscow State Pedagogical University, noted in a commentary on RT, the information provided by Green and Comer about the detention of the accused in the case of the events of January 6 once again confirms that the American penitentiary system is "one of the most repressive in the world".

“Despite the fact that the conditions in American prisons are already far from ideal, against this background we see gross violations of human rights against individuals who expressed their political position.

In fact, many participants in the events of January 6 are political prisoners.

Even a recent report by the US Department of Justice suggests that the White House is very biased towards those who stormed the Capitol.

At the same time, the Biden administration actively supports those who oppose the current authorities objectionable to Washington in other countries, for example, in Georgia, ”the analyst recalled.

According to Shapovalov, by oppressing the participants of the action on January 6, the US democratic establishment wants to teach a lesson to all political activists who will try to doubt the actions of the American administration.

“However, the Republicans will actively oppose this, in particular in the context of the intensifying inter-party struggle before the presidential elections, in parallel using this as an element of the struggle against the Democratic Party.

Republicans will actively promote this topic, demand an investigation, and quite rightly accuse Democrats of violating human rights, ”the analyst believes.

• Session of the lower house of the US Congress

• AFP

• © OLIVIER DOULIERY

At the same time, Shapovalov believes that if the Democrats remain in power after the presidential election in 2024, the hope of improving the conditions of detention of the participants in the storming of the Capitol "will simply die."

“Only if a Republican president comes to power, we can count on some easing of policy in this direction.

And then only if the composition of the judiciary changes in favor of the Republican Party,” the expert concluded.