Militia founder given longest Jan 6 sentence
WASHINGTON: The founder of the United States’ farright militant Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, was sentenced to 18 years in prison yesterday for seditious conspiracy, the longest sentence imposed to date over the January 6 US Capitol riot that sought to keep Donald Trump in the White House.
US District Judge Amit Mehta delivered the sentence after a defiant Rhodes stood before him in an orange jumpsuit and claimed he was a ‘‘political prisoner’’.
‘‘For decades, Mr Rhodes, it is clear you have wanted the democracy of this country to devolve into violence,’’ Mehta told him, saying he presented a threat to the ‘‘very fabric of our democracy’’.
Rhodes, a former Army paratrooper turned Yaleeducated lawyer, was convicted in November by a federal court jury in Washington.
Rhodes’ prison term represents the longest sentence for any of the 1000plus people charged in connection with the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack by supporters of Republican thenpresident Trump in a failed bid to block Congress from certifying Democratic rival Joe Biden’s November 2020 election victory.
Until now, the longest sentence was 14 years in prison given to a man who attacked police during the rampage.
Prosecutors had sought a sentence of 25 years for Rhodes.
Rhodes, who wears an eye patch after accidentally shooting himself in the face with his own gun, founded the Oath Keepers in 2009. — Reuters
South Korea’s homegrown Nuri space rocket is launched at the Naro Space Centre in Goheung, South Korea, yesterday.
The rocket delivered a commercialgrade satellite into orbit for the first time, the country’s science minister said, a breakthrough in its ambitions to compete in a space race with its Asian neighbours.
It lifted off after technical glitches caused the launch to be cancelled a day earlier.
The main commercialgrade satellite made contact with a base station in Antarctica after successfully separating from the space vehicle, Science Minister Lee Jongho said.
Six other cube satellites had also been deployed, but the science ministry said it was still checking if one remaining cube satellite was released normally.
The satellites will be used by South Korea’s national science institute.
President Yoon Sukyeol said the launch placed South Korea among the topseven countries that have put domestically produced satellites into orbit with domestically built rockets.
‘‘This will greatly change the way the world sees South Korea’s space science technology and its advanced industry,’’ Yoon said.
Yesterday’s launch followed dummypayload test flights in June last year and October 2021.
Three more flights are expected in the next four years, including military satellite payloads.