A Republican who lost the elections, sentenced to 80 years in prison for attacks ordered against Democratic rivals
Solomon Pena was arrested by American police, photo: Roberto E. Rosales / Zuma Press / Profimedia Images
A Republican politician in the American state of New Mexico was sentenced to 80 years in prison for committing people to attack the houses of democratic officials with firearms after his defeat in the 2022 elections, Reuters reports.
Solomon Pena orchestrated the attacks in Albuquerque, the largest city in New Mexico, a few weeks after losing the race for a place in the State representatives, the fifth as an area of the fifty US.
He was a follower of conspiracy theories that he was the victim of an electoral fraud, federal prosecutors said.
Pena was sentenced earlier this year for 13 murder charges for attacks on four officials in December 2022 and January 2023, including the current president of the State Representatives Chamber.
No one was injured in the armed attacks, which followed other acts of violence with political motivation, such as the hammer attack on the husband of US Nancy Pelosi.
“Violence and intimidation do not take place in our elections,” said the federal prosecutor for New Mexico, Ryan Ellison, in a statement after the sentence was pronounced.
Pena's lawyer, Nicholas Hart, said his client will appeal against the conviction.
Two men who stated that they were employed by Pena for attacks and pleaded guilty in 2024.
After he was not chosen, Pena exerted pressure on the members of the Commissions Council in Bernalillo County in order not to validate the results.
When they refused, the penalist recruited Jose Trujillo and Demetio Trujillo to commit the armed attacks, prosecutors said.
The false and unfounded allegations of the electoral fraud exploded after President Donald Trump refused to accept defeat in the 2020 presidential elections in the US.
