A federal judge ordered Wednesday that a man charged in connection with riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 be given organic food while he remains jailed in Washington, D.C. ahead of his federal trial.
The order, granted by D.C. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth, comes after lawyers for Jacob Chansley claimed that he hadn't eaten since Jan. 25, according to CNN and Politico.
Chansley, the man photographed storming the Capitol bare-chested and wearing a horned fur hat, goes by the moniker "QAnon Shaman." Lawyers say his "shamanic belief system and way of life" required him to eat only organic food.
In a filing Wednesday, attorney Albert Watkins wrote that forcing Chansley to eat processed foods with "unnatural chemicals" led to “systemic responses that are not simply discomforting, but debilitating and, notably, dehydrating.”
The judge's ruling comes a week after Chansley formally requested the D.C. jail for organic food. In that request, he claimed have eaten only organic food for the past eight years.
According to CNN the jail denied Chansley's request for organic food, saying that they could not find evidence that an organic diet was a requirement for Shamanism.
According to Politico, lawyers claimed that Chansley had lost 20 pounds since his arrest and that his condition was worsening. However, prosecutors disputed claims that Chansley had gone over a week without eating.
Chansley, also known as Jacob Angeli, is a 33-year-old QAnon conspiracy theorist and was a frequent participant in pro-Trump rallies in Phoenix in the months leading up to the 2020 election. He often appeared at those rallies in a costume of horns, fur headdress, and tan pants with no shirt.
Chansley faces charges of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
During his first court appearance in January, Chansley claimed he had done nothing wrong.
"I'm not really all that worried about it because, in all honesty...I didn't break any laws. I walked through open doors," Chansley said.
Five people — including a Capitol police officer — died during the Jan. 6 riots. Two Capitol police officers who were on duty that day have since died by suicide.
On Jan. 13, the House of Representatives impeached then-President Donald Trump, charging him of inciting the riot. Trump's impeachment trial is scheduled to start next week.
