The US Department of Justice has asked a federal appeals court to throw out the convictions of 12 people who were found guilty of seditious conspiracy related to the 6 January 2021 riots.

Although President Donald Trump issued more than 1,000 pardons for those convicted for their role in the Capitol riots, he opted to commute the sentences of a dozen members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.

That meant they could be released from prison, but their convictions remained on the record.

“The United States has determined in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice,” the US Attorney’s Ofice in Washington, DC, said in a filing on Tuesday.