On 13 August 1973, five Black pro-independence activists were sentenced to eight consecutive life sentences in the US Virgin Islands.
After the killing of eight American tourists on a Rockefeller-owned golf course, Fountain Valley, US colonial authorities rounded up dozens of Black people, and viciously tortured five of them to try to extract confessions.
Although the jury was deadlocked following the trial, nine jurors testified that during deliberation they were threatened with FBI investigations on themselves and family members. The judge, formerly Rockefeller's private attorney, and lawyer for the golf course, refused to declare a mistrial in order that the jurors could be compelled to deliver guilty verdicts.
One of those convicted, Ishmael LaBeet, later hijacked a plane while being transferred to a different prison and flew it to Cuba where he was jailed for a period but released.
Fountain Valley Five convicted - WCH | Stories
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