Right-wing extremist gets 18 years in prison – the longest sentence for the storming of the Capitol

Last November, a court found 58-year-old Rhodes guilty of, among other things, sedition. Now a judge has decided the penalty.

– He was the one who gave the order. He was the one who organized the groups that day. He was the reason they were all in Washington DC, said Judge Amit Mehta, according to CNN.

The goal is that first connected to the storming of the Capitol, where the judge considers that the act can be equated with terrorism. According to Mehta, Rhodes is a threat to the United States and has wanted to see democracy degenerate into violence for decades.

Previously, the longest prison sentence handed down after the storming was 14 years.

Before the sentence was handed down, Rhodes claimed that he is a political prisoner who, like Donald Trump, resists those who seek to destroy the United States.

January 6, 2021 supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump gathered outside the US Congress to try to overturn the election results. After losing to Joe Biden, Trump and his associates spread lies about widespread election fraud.

Rhodes himself never entered the Capitol during the attack. The prosecutor has previously described him standing outside like a “general on a battlefield overseeing his troops”-

The 58-year-old founded the far-right militia Oath Keepers in 2009. Among its members are former soldiers and police officers who often take part in armed political events and protests.