Washington (AFP) - A man was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Tuesday for plotting to kidnap Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

Adam Fox, 39, led a group of far-right activists who were arrested in October 2020.

According to the indictment, the activists deemed the governor a "tyrant" due to the COVID-related restrictions, and planned to kidnap her in order to put her on a "trial."

Extremist activists monitored the area around her vacation home and took pictures of a bridge they planned to blow up as a distraction during the kidnapping.

"Rest assured we will do everything in our power to thwart such plots," Andrew Berg, a former federal prosecutor appointed by the Justice Department to oversee the trial, said in a statement.

Adam Fox pleaded not guilty during his trial, claiming that undercover FBI agents and informants set him up and drove the group into planning, training, and arming.

The Michigan court had ruled a few weeks ago to imprison three other members of this group for a period ranging between 7 and 12 years.

The arrest of these activists in 2020 demonstrated the growing danger posed by far-right militias, and was underlined during the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol in Washington that involved members of groups such as the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys.