Charlottesville white nationalists indicted by Virginia grand jury

Charlottesville, Virginia - Nearly six years after the notorious white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville, several of the participants carrying flaming torches have been indicted on felony charges.

White supremacists carrying tiki torches march through the University of Virginia campus in August 2017.
White supremacists carrying tiki torches march through the University of Virginia campus in August 2017.  © IMAGO / ZUMA Press

An undisclosed number of people have been charged with burning an object with the intent of intimidating a person or group of people, which would carry a prison sentence of up to five years, the Associated Press reported.

The identities of three of the torch carriers have been revealed as Zachary Smith of Nacona, Texas; Tyler Bradley Dykes of Bluffton, South Carolina; and Dallas Medina of Ravenna, Ohio.

The indictments, released in February but only recently unsealed, relate to events that took place at the University of Virginia on August 11, 2017, when white nationalists marched through campus yelling racist chants like "Jews will not replace us."

The next day, many joined a Unite the Right rally. There, a white supremacist from Ohio named James Alex Fields Jr. drove his car into a group of counter-protesters, killing one woman and injuring many more. Fields is currently behind bars on a life sentence for murder and hate crimes.

Back then, ex-president Donald Trump stirred controversy when he infamously claimed there were "very fine people on both sides."

Cover photo: IMAGO / ZUMA Press

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