Charlottesville torch marchers face criminal charges six years later

Nearly six years after an infamous far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, three demonstrators have been indicted on felony counts.

The men are charged with burning an object with the intent to intimidate.

Hundreds of protesters carrying torches marched at the start of the "Unite the Right" rally in August 2017.

The events brought together far-right and white-nationalist groups. One protester was killed in the violence that followed.

The men were named in court documents as William Zachary Smith of Texas, Tyler Bradley Dykes of South Carolina, and Dallas Medina of Ohio.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison.

The three men were indicted by a grand jury in February, but court records were only unsealed this week.

"These indictments were issued as part of a criminal investigation that is active and ongoing," the Albemarle County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office said in a statement.

It is unclear how many people will eventually face charges, and local prosecutors declined to comment further when contacted Wednesday. A previous county prosecutor declined to press charges against the torch marchers.

Mr Smith's lawyer did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Court records did not list lawyers or contact details for the other two men, and Mr Dykes did not return messages left with his business.

The events in Charlottesville have been described as a defining moment in the recent history of extremism and violence in the US. They have also been the source of civil lawsuits seeking damages from the organisers.

On the evening of 11 August 2017, torch-wielding demonstrators shouted "You will not replace us," and "Jews will not replace us" - references to the "white genocide" conspiracy theory.

The theory is a racist mainstay of white nationalist propaganda. It comes in various guises but generally states that there is a deliberate ploy, often blamed on Jewish people, to cause the mass extinction of white people through violence, immigration, interracial marriage, and other means.

The torch rally ended with brawls between protesters and counter-protesters.

Photos posted online show Mr Dykes, a former US Marine and owner of an IT business, carrying a torch and giving what appears to be a Nazi salute in the middle of the protest. Mr Medina was shown in footage of the evening, also carrying a torch and wearing a t-shirt printed with the name of an animated neo-Nazi online video series.

The following day saw larger marches and more clashes before a man rammed his car into a group of counter-protesters, killing one and injuring dozens. James Alex Fields Jr, a neo-Nazi from Ohio, pleaded guilty to murder and hate crimes and is serving a life sentence for the attack.

President Trump, commenting about the far-right marchers shortly after the violence, said "you had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides".

Joe Biden later launched his presidential campaign with a direct reference to the events in Charlottesville.

There is no statute of limitations on felony crimes in Virginia, meaning there is no deadline for charges to be brought or tried in court.