USA
Two years after the storming of the US Capitol: Former police officer sentenced to eleven years in prison
Almost two years ago, a mob stormed the US Capitol in Washington. The incident is still being processed.
© Jose Luis Magana / AP / DPA
Even almost two years after the storming of the Capitol, the US authorities are still busy dealing with the incident. Now a former police officer has been convicted. He was involved in the turmoil in Washington.
Hostetter will begin his prison sentence in January. The former California state police officer was found guilty in July on four counts, including conspiracy to obstruct Congress and inciting disorder with a deadly or dangerous weapon. Until the end, he argued in court that the then US President Donald Trump’s victory in the 2020 election was stolen through massive voter fraud.
Already more than 1,200 lawsuits because of the storming of the Capitol
Radical Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in January 2021 to prevent confirmation of Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory. Shortly before the attack, Trump had called on his supporters to march to the Capitol and fight “no matter what.” The elected incumbent had previously falsely claimed for weeks that he had been deprived of re-election through large-scale election fraud.
According to the US Department of Justice, more than 1,230 people have now been charged with the storming of the Capitol, which caused horror around the world. Hundreds of them were sentenced to prison.
Trump himself was indicted by the US federal judiciary in August for his attempts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election and thus stay in power. A similar charge was also made in the southern state of Georgia against the Republican, who wants to run again in the presidential election next November.