#clemencyforleonardpeltier — Public Fediverse posts

Will #Biden Grant #LeonardPeltier Clemency? #Indigenous Leaders Plead, “Don’t Let Him Die in Prison”

#DemocracyNow, January 17, 2025

"After commuting the sentences of over 2,500 people imprisoned for nonviolent drug offenses, Joe Biden has set a record for most pardons and commutations by a U.S. president. But Indigenous political prisoner Leonard Peltier remains behind bars. Over 120 tribal leaders are calling on Biden to grant clemency to Peltier as one of his final acts in office, warning this may be the last opportunity Peltier has for freedom. Peltier is 80 years old and has spent the majority of his life — nearly half a century — in prison despite a conviction riddled with irregularities and prosecutorial misconduct. In December, tribal leaders, including the #NDNCollective’s Nick Tilsen, met with a pardon attorney at the Department of Justice to prepare a recommendation on Peltier’s case for Biden. With only a few days left in Biden’s term, #NativeAmericans are eagerly anticipating his decision. 'All of us see a little bit of ourselves in Leonard Peltier, and that’s why we fight so hard for him,' says Tilsen. 'This is about paving a path forward that gives us the opportunity to have justice and begin to heal the relationship between the United States government and Indian people. And so, this decision is massive.' "

Listen / watch / read transcript (available after 1pm EST): https://www.democracynow.org/2025/1/17/free_leonard_peltier_biden_clemency
#ClemencyForLeonardPeltier #AmnestyForLeonardPeltier #FreeLeonardPeltier #AmericanIndianMovement #AIM #NativeAmericanActivist #FBI #ACAB #TruthAndReconciliation

Minnesota tribal leaders call for #Biden to commute #LeonardPeltier's sentence

by Melissa Olson, January 14, 2025

"A group of over 120 elected current and former tribal leaders from across the United States are calling on President Joe Biden to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier, a longstanding political activist convicted in 1977 in the murder of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, according to a story first published Monday by HuffPost.

"Peltier is a member of the #AmericanIndianMovement, a grassroots Native American organization formed in Minneapolis in the late 1960s in response to police violence.

“'For the majority of his life, Leonard Peltier has been serving a sentence based on a conviction that would not hold up in court today and for a crime that the government has admitted it could not prove. Mr. Peltier’s continued incarceration is a symbol to Native Americans of the systemic inequities of the criminal justice system in America,' read the letter from tribal elected officials published on #NDNCollective.

"The letter was signed by over a dozen elected tribal officials in Minnesota, including president of the #LowerSioux Indian Community Robert Larsen, who verified the accuracy of the letter to MPR News, as well as Chair of #BoisForteBand of Chippewa Cathy Chavers and Chief Executive of the #MilleLacs Band of# Ojibwe Virgil Wind, who signed the letter as President of the Midwest Alliance of Sovereign Tribes.

"Faron Jackson, chair of the #LeechLakeBand of Ojibwe, also signed the letter. Jackson spoke to MPR News while attending the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe annual state of the band address Tuesday.

"'I think it was an injustice from day one,” said Jackson. “He’s been sitting in prison for almost 50 years on a lot of circumstantial evidence that just didn’t add up to justice.'

"Peltier, a citizen of the #TurtleMountainBand of #Chippewa in North Dakota, is currently serving two life sentences at a federal prison in Florida. Peltier has maintained his innocence since he was first imprisoned."

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/01/14/minnesota-tribal-leaders-call-for-biden-to-commute-leonard-peltier-sentence
#FreeLeonardPeltier #AmnestyForLeonardPeltier #ClemencyForLeonardPeltier #AIM

#NuclearColonialism v. #RedPower

"The world has no shortage of #PoliticalPrisoners – or of environmental martyrs and heroes– but 80-year-old #LeonardPeltier, a #Lakota and #Anishinaabe AIM member, is arguably the most famous, the legal lynching he underwent so outrageous, and his incarceration in a 'maximum security' prison so protracted. Even former FBI agents have themselves essentially contended that Pelter was scapegoated by the FBI for the lethal shooting of two agents–Jack Coler and Ronald Williams– on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Michael Apted’s 1992 documentary Incident at Oglala, narrated by Robert Redford, is a good place to start if you’re new to this history. But if you’re looking for insights into the role that #UraniumMining played in the conflict, you’d be better off checking out #PeterMatthiessen’s book #InTheSpiritOfCrazyHorse: Leonard Peltier and the #FBI’s War on The #AmericanIndian ovement. To hear a first-hand account, check out Peltier’s memoir #PrisonWritings: My Life Is My Sun Dance.

"Despite well-documented prosecutorial misconduct powerfully depicted in Apted’s documentary, Peltier’s conviction has yet to be overturned. And in the face of decades of global, high-profile pleas for clemency for Peltier, including by James Reynolds, a “senior US attorney who was involved in [his] prosecution,” no president up until now has been willing to free Peltier. Given that he’s in increasingly poor health, time is running out, and the same president who just pardoned his own son may be Peltier’s last shot at clemency. If you haven’t yet done so, check out the Amnesty International petition– and Amy Goodman’s and Denis Moynihan’s recent column–making the case for his release. The Red Nation media collective also has an extensive playlist of podcasts focused on Peltier’s case and the long struggle to free him.

"Peltier, arguably the world’s most visible casualty of nuclear colonialism, was only three years into his sentence when Santee Dakota organizer John Trudell, his contemporary in AIM, delivered a searing 1980 speech at the Black Hills International Survival Gathering. As Zoltan Grossman has documented, 'Multinational mining companies, such as #UnionCarbide and #Exxon, proposed the development of the #BlackHills for energy resources, including #coal mines, #uranium mines, and coal slurry #pipelines.' The Black Hills gathering brought together a global convergence of more than 10,000 Indigenous activists and non-Native allies to hold the line against a repeat of the 1950s, which, per Grossman, had 'result[ed] in the extensive irradiation of the southern Black Hills community of #Edgemont.'"

Read more:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/12/11/tis-the-season-to-talk-climate-collapse-nuclear-colonialism-and-freeing-leonard-peltier/
#FreeLeonardPeltier #ClemencyForLeonardPeltier #ACAB #AmnestyForLeonardPeltier #SilencingDissent #NoUraniumMining

#Grijalva, Sen. Schatz Lead 34 Lawmakers Urging #PresidentBiden to Pardon #NativeAmericanActivist #LeonardPeltier

From U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Dec 19, 2024

WASHINGTON – "U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Chairman #BrianSchatz (D-Hawai‘i) led a letter signed by 34 Members of Congress to President Biden urging him to grant clemency for renowned Native American rights activist Leonard Peltier in the final weeks of his term. Mr. Peltier was convicted of murder in 1977 following a controversial investigation and trial, which many civil rights leaders and legal experts have called unjust, including the U.S. Attorney who prosecuted the case.

"In their letter, the lawmakers cite Mr. Peltier’s advanced age and illness, and stress that a presidential pardon is the last remaining hope for his freedom.

"'Despite the grave concerns surrounding the continued imprisonment of Mr. Peltier, who is now 80 years old and suffering from severe health conditions, including increasing vision loss, the Bureau of Prisons denied Mr. Peltier a compassionate release or reduction in sentence in April of this year; and in July 2024, the U.S. Parole Commission denied him parole. These recent denials mean only you have the unique ability to grant him clemency and rectify this grave #injustice that has long troubled #HumanRights advocates and #NativePeoples across the globe,' the lawmakers wrote.

"The lawmakers highlight the Biden-Harris administration’s unprecedented record of addressing the country’s history of injustices against Indigenous communities and urge President Biden to cement this legacy by commuting Mr. Peltier’s sentence.

"The letter was also signed by Representatives Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Greg Casar (D-Texas), Jesús G. “Chuy” García (D-Ill.), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Daniel Kildee (D-Mich.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Summer Lee (D-Ohio), Erica Lee Carter (D-Texas), Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), James McGovern (D-Mass.), Kevin Mullin (D-Calif.), #AlexandriaOcasioCortez (D-N.Y.), #IlhanOmar (D-Minn.), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.), Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-Va.), #RashidaTlaib (D-Mich.), #JillTokuda (D-Hawai‘i), and #NydiaVelázquez (D-N.Y.), as well as U.S. Senators #MazieHirono (D-Hawai’i), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), #BernieSanders (I-Vt.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), #ElizabethWarren (D-Mass.), and Peter Welch (D- Vt.), and former U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).

BACKGROUND

"In 1977, Leonard Peltier was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of two FBI agents. His trial and conviction have been widely criticized by civil rights leaders and legal experts; key evidence was withheld, witnesses were coerced, and critical ballistics information was misrepresented. Mr. Peltier was an active member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), a grassroots movement founded in the late 1960s to organize activism around systemic poverty, discrimination, and police brutality against Native Americans. At the time of Mr. Peltier’s arrest, AIM was under deep scrutiny by the U.S. government.

"Last year, Ranking Member #Grijalva led a bipartisan, bicameral 33-member letter calling on President Biden and the U.S. Department of Justice to grant clemency to Mr. Peltier, as well as in October 2021 and February 2022. Grijalva spoke with Mr. Peltier in 2022 and recounted his description of harsh and often inhumane conditions in federal detention, including long periods of solitary confinement and major challenges in obtaining adequate medical care for his declining health."

Source:
https://www.charkoosta.com/news/grijalva-sen-schatz-lead-34-lawmakers-urging-president-biden-to-pardon-native-american-activist-leonard/article_067787be-bd7e-11ef-9e89-2f59e879ef5e.html
#FreeLeonardPeltier #AmnestyForLeonardPeltier #ClemencyForLeonardPeltier #AmericanIndianMovement #AIM #FBI

#LeonardPeltier: ‘This is what mercy is for’

by Pauly Denetclaw
Thu, December 5, 2024

"Hawai’i Sen. #BrianSchatz chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, made a plea to President Joe Biden on behalf of Leonard Peltier on Dec. 4. In a less than four-minute speech on the Senate floor, he asked that Biden grant clemency to Peltier.

"Biden on Sunday evening pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, for 'offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted (including any that have resulted in convictions) by Special Counsel David C. Weiss,' according to a statement by Biden.

"Schatz noted the alleged violation of Peltier’s constitutional rights to a fair trial during the 1977 murder trial of two FBI agents.

"'The process that led to his conviction had major issues and inaccuracies from the start,' Schatz said. 'For example, one witness whose statements were used at trial said she was told to lie and say that she was in a relationship with Peltier and that she had witnessed him shoot the agents. She later recanted that statement, saying, ‘I was forced into this, and I feel very awful. I just wish that Leonard Peltier would get out of prison.’”

"He also talked about one of the jurors in the case who allegedly admitted to being racist toward Native Americans, but was still allowed to remain on the jury that would convict Peltier of two first-degree murder charges.

"Peltier would be sentenced to two life sentences. He has maintained his innocence.

"In July, the Assembly of First Nations, representing over 600 Indigenous leaders in Canada, rescinded their nearly 40 year support of Peltier because of his alleged role in the murder of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, Mik’maq, by American Indian Movement members. Peltier denies he had any involvement. [See my posts about #AnnaMaePictouAquash]

"#AmnestyInternational, United Nations’ Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, three tribal nations, National Congress of American Indians, #NDNCollective and the Native American Rights Fund have all urged Biden to grant Peltier clemency.

“'According to reporting, a juror who on day two of the trial professed her prejudice against Native Americans, was allowed to remain on the panel,' Schatz said. 'If that wasn't enough, take it from the very U.S. attorney who tried the case. The prosecutor who tried the case, James Reynolds, who said (in a letter that) Peltier had served his sentence on ‘the basis of minimal evidence, a result that I strongly doubt would be upheld in any court today.'

"Schatz read excerpts from a 2021 letter that James Reynolds sent to Biden to ask for Peltier’s clemency.

"Peltier’s health has been declining over the last few years. He has repeatedly been denied commuted sentencing, parole, pardon, clemency, and compassionate release.

"'Peltier is now 80 years old and has been in prison for 50 years, he is in declining health, experiencing vision loss and other illnesses. In spite of all that, earlier this year, federal officials denied his request for compassionate release and parole,' Schatz said. 'So even if you believe that he did in fact commit the crime, surely the time is now to let him spend whatever remaining days he has at home to die with his family. He's done his time. He's of old age and in poor health. This is what clemency is for. This is what mercy is for. He poses little threat to society.'

"Biden’s last day in office is January 20, 2025. In his last administration, President-elect Donald Trump took no action on Peltier’s request for clemency. On his last full day in office, former President Barack Obama denied clemency for Peltier."

https://news.yahoo.com/news/leonard-peltier-mercy-165336810.html

#FreeLeonardPeltier #AmnestyForLeonardPeltier #ClemencyForLeonardPeltier #AIM #FBI #ACAB