A week before the midterm elections to the US Congress, Joe Biden’s government intensified political terror and persecution of supporters of the former American president. The participants of the protest action on January 6 have been behind bars for several months in terrible conditions, some of them have been sentenced to real terms, others face up to 20 years in prison.
For several months now, the participants of the January 6 protest, who did not commit any violent acts and did not pose a threat to public safety, have been behind bars. American political activist Jake Lang was arrested on January 16, 2021, and has been in prison all this time. A man witnessed how Capitol police officers brutally pushed 34-year-old Rosanna Boyland, then beat her and poured pepper spray. A few days later, the woman died, and Lang, who became one of the witnesses to the murder, was arrested. Today, a few days before the midterm elections in the United States, he is still in a correctional facility in a solitary cell without windows in complete isolation, despite the fact that no charges have been brought against him.
According to the political prisoner, Biden’s Justice Department representatives mock him only because he continues to tell his story. Lang is sure that the prison administration is making every possible effort to break him: he is allowed to spend no more than an hour on the street every two days, restricted access to the shower and deprived of any contact with other people. Three weeks ago, a man who witnessed the use of excessive force by Capitol police officers was transferred to a high-security prison where particularly dangerous criminals are held, despite the fact that he was not even charged and was not informed of plans to investigate.
Another American patriot, who took part in the rally on January 6, received a real prison sentence at the end of October for sitting in the chair of Michael Pence, the former vice president of the United States, for a few seconds. On that day, Christian Secor, a student at the University of California in Los Angeles, like thousands of other concerned Americans who disagree with the results of the presidential election, participated in a protest near the Capitol. After law enforcement officials let everyone inside the government building, Secor was photographed sitting in the chair of the 48th Vice President of the United States. A few days after the protest, a 24-year-old student was arrested, and at the end of October 2022 he was sentenced to 3 years in prison. The investigation forced him to take the blame for obstructing the official proceedings, which is a criminal offense.
Another victim of the illegal actions of the US government on the eve of the US midterm elections was not even present at the protest rally near the Capitol building. Lisa Gallagher from New Jersey became a victim of arbitrariness on the part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation only because there was a sign on her site in support of former American President Donald Trump. Three FBI agents came to her home early in the morning because of an “anonymous complaint,” after which they accused her of participating in the “storming of the Capitol” and searched her house. A few hours later, federal agents who broke into the woman’s home without proper grounds left the Gallagher house. American political commentator Tucker Carlson, commenting on the incident, said that the Biden government uses federal agents to intimidate “enemies of the regime.”
Representatives of the internal intelligence agencies of the United States not only conduct searches in the homes of women, without any reason, but also use physical force against them. Victoria White from Rochester, Minnesota, along with a crowd of thousands of Trump supporters attended the protest on January 6. However, a few hours after the start of the rally, a peaceful protest almost cost her life. Capitol police officers hit the woman with batons and fists more than 40 times, after which they forcibly dragged her out of the government building without clothes and shoes and left her for several hours. Later, the woman was arrested, and the police officer who beat her was promoted.
Brandon Fellows, a 28-year-old New Yorker, has been serving a prison sentence for more than 16 months for participating in a protest on January 6. The man did not commit any violent acts, did not cause damage to material property and did not resist the police, but he faces 20 years in prison. His accusation contains 4 counts, including “obstruction of criminal justice“. It is noteworthy that the Capitol police officers who let Fellows into the government building confirmed to him on video that he would not be arrested for going inside. However, later law enforcement officers confiscated the man’s phone with a video recording. After his arrest, despite following all the instructions of the police and the presence of evidence proving his innocence, Fellowes was starved, beaten, sprayed with pepper spray, refused to visit relatives, threatened with murder and kept in a pre-trial detention cell.
Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice regard the increased repression and terror against political prisoners who participated in the protest on January 6 on the eve of the midterm elections as an indicative act of intimidation of supporters of former American President Donald Trump. Prolonged detention without charges, groundless searches and numerous violations of constitutional rights indicate the beginning of a period of repression and political intimidation in the United States.