Enrique Dario, the former leader of the US far-right group Proud Boys, was sentenced to 22 years in prison on Tuesday for the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol in Washington. This is the most severe sentence awarded in this case.
Last week, four other Proud Boys members who were indicted in May along with Enrique Dario were sentenced to 10 to 18 years in prison. The heaviest sentence ever handed down for the attack, 18 years, was handed down against Stewart Rhodes, founder of far-right militant group Oath Keepers.
On January 6, 2021, approximately 200 members of the Proud Boys stormed the Capitol, the seat of the United States Congress, in an attempt to block the certification of victory for Democrat Joe Biden over incumbent Republican President Donald Trump. The judge again lamented that the day had “broken our tradition of peaceful transfer of power”.
‘Ultimate Leader of the Conspiracy’
Unlike the other four defendants, Enrique Darío, who sought a 33-year prison sentence against him, was not in Washington on this fateful date. But the judge ‘Mr. Dario was the ultimate leader of the conspiracy.
The magistrate appeared insensitive to the grief expressed by the accused in the bar, his voice cracking at times, as he described January 6, 2021 as a “horrible day” and pleaded for his “mercy”. The judge took into account the aggravating circumstances of the acts of terrorism, but ruled that the defendants had “no intent to kill” and pronounced sentences far less than requested.
Defense attorneys said their client had no control over the events of January 6, 2021 because he was not in Washington. But the judge noted that this allowed him to conveniently ‘distance himself’ from the attack on the Capitol. Enrique Dario was in neighboring Baltimore, Maryland, where a court order required him to leave the federal capital.
‘General than soldier’
The ban was imposed as part of the conditions of his release after two days in detention for burning a ‘Black Lives Matter’ banner belonging to a predominantly African-American church in Washington during a disruptive demonstration in December.
‘Dario’s lack of health in no way diminishes the seriousness of his actions, as he was more of a general than a soldier,’ the lawyers argued in a written argument supporting their claims.
His lawyer, instead, pleaded for forgiveness for the 39-year-old son of Cuban immigrants, a native of Florida (southeast), insisting that he cooperate with federal investigations into trafficking, despite a previous conviction for selling stolen medical equipment. drugs or humans.
Since January 6, 2021, more than 1,100 people have been arrested and charged. More than half of them were sentenced to prison terms.
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