TAMPA, Fla. — Four members of the St. Petersburg-based Uhuru Movement have been found guilty of conspiracy to act as Russian agents.

Three of the four members facing charges were found not guilty of acting as foreign agents.

The ruling came down Thursday in a federal court in Tampa. No sentencing date has been announced.  

The four said they plan to appeal the conspiracy convictions.

The four people on trial are or were affiliated with the African People’s Socialist Party and Uhuru Movement, which has locations in St. Pete and St. Louis. The defendants had been charged with conspiring to covertly sow discord in U.S. society, spread Russian propaganda and interfere illegally in U.S. elections

Among those charged is Omali Yeshitela, the 82-year-old chairman of the organization focused on Black empowerment and the effort to obtain reparations for slavery and what it considers the past genocide of Africans.

“The most important thing is they were unable to convict us for working for anyone but black people," Yeshitela said. "I am willing to be charged and found guilty of working for Black people."

The government also charged Penny Hess, 78, and Jesse Nevel, 34, two leaders of branches of the group’s white allies.

A fourth defendant, Augustus C. Romain Jr., 38, was kicked out of the Uhurus in 2018 and established his own group in Atlanta called The Black Hammer.

Yeshitela, Hess and Nevel were found not guilty of acting as foreign agents.

“The defendants knowingly partnered with the Russian government,” prosecutor Menno Goedman told the jury in closing arguments. “Just look at their own words.”

But the defense argued that Yeshitela was only guessing and was not sure.

Chicago attorney Leonard Goodman, who represents Hess, argued that Aleksandr Ionov, who runs an organization known as the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, concealed from the Uhurus his relationship with Russian intelligence.

The government has “not proven that they knew Ionov was a Russian agent or a Russian government official,” Goodman said.

The defense attorney called the case “dangerous” for the First Amendment and asserted that the government was trying to silence the Uhurus for expressing their views. 

Yeshitela, the indictment adds, traveled from Tampa to Moscow in 2015 to meet with Ionov and other Russians to “communicate on future cooperation,” according to an Ionov email. What followed was covert Russian funding and support for various activities in the U.S. until summer 2022, including demonstrations at the California and Georgia state capitols and at an unnamed social media company in San Francisco.

St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch, a Democrat, called the allegations troubling.

“It is important to underscore that the City of St. Petersburg does not support, condone or tolerate any foreign government engaging in activities to undermine or influence our elections,” Welch said in a statement.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.