Five members of the far-right Proud Boys convicted of orchestrating the US Capitol riot filed a lawsuit on Friday seeking $100 million in damages for alleged violations of their constitutional rights.

The suit, filed in a federal court in Florida, claims the five were victims of “corrupt and politically motivated persecution” intended to punish political allies of US President Donald Trump.

Among the five plaintiffs is former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison for directing the January 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by Trump supporters seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

Tarrio, whose sentence for seditious conspiracy was the longest doled out to Capitol rioters, was among the more than 1,500 Trump supporters pardoned by the Republican president on his first day in office.

In their suit, the Proud Boys members said they were victims of “egregious........

© The Times of Israel