Copyright © 2001 NLThomas
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February 6 Marks 25 Years of Imprisonment for Leonard Peltier.

Still outraged over Clinton's denial of clemency to Leonard Peltier, Peltier advocates across the nation and globe are meeting today to plan new strategies to free the man they see as a political prisoner, wrongly imprisoned for 25 years. "Leonard Peltier never received a fair trial, and the appellate process has failed him. More than a reasonable doubt has been cast on his guilt, and yet a quarter century later, he languishes behind bars. By denying clemency, Bill Clinton failed to fulfill his duty to correct this injustice. He also betrayed the Native citizens of this land," said Ernie Stevens Jr. of the National Congress of American Indians.

Despite the defeat, Peltier and supporters say they will not give up. They plan to launch a major campaign calling for the declassification of the 6000 documents pertaining to the Peltier case still being withheld by the FBI. Supporters believe these documents contain evidence that will further expose misconduct in the gaining of Leonard Peltier's conviction. Their disclosure, they say, could lead to Peltier's acquittal. 12,000 FBI documents were released in the early 1980's pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. Among them was a ballistic test reflecting Peltier's innocence and prompting the Eighth Circuit to conclude: "There is a possibility that the jury would have acquitted Leonard Peltier had the records and data improperly withheld from the defense been available to him in order to better exploit and reinforce the inconsistencies casting strong doubts upon the government's case."

Those calling for Leonard Peltier's release include Amnesty International, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the National Congress of American Indians, Coretta Scott King, several members of Congress, and the Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights among others.

*Leonard Peltier was a prominent member of the American Indian Movement. He was convicted for the murder of two FBI agents killed during a 1975 shoot-out, which occurred on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in the midst of intense, local political strife. In 1985 the US Attorney admitted and later established that he could not prove who shot the agents.