Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier is ready to be Liberated from a Florida prison On Tuesday, based on former President Joe Biden, he had switched his life imprisonment for the murders of two FBI agents, a decision that euphorted Peltier’s supporters while angrying the officials responsible for enforcing the law they believe In your fault.
For almost half a century, Peltier’s imprisonment has symbolized systemic injustice For Native Americans throughout the country who believe in their innocence. The followers celebrated the decision to free supporters from 80 years home.
“It represents all the people who have been math by a policeman, profiled, made their children harass in school,” said Nick Este, a professor of American Indians studies at the University of Minnesota and a member of the tribe under Brule Sioux who has advocated the launch of Peltier.
But the last minute movement when Biden left the position also caused criticism of those who say that Peltier is guilty, including former director of FBI Christopher Wraywho called him “a murderer without regrets” in a private letter to Biden that was obtained by Associated Press.
“Grant Peltier any relief from his conviction or sentence is totally unjustified and would be an affront to the rule of law,” Wray wrote.
The switching was not a forgiveness for the crimes committed, something that Peltier’s defenders expected since he has always maintained his innocence.
Peltier, a registered member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa in North Dakota, was active in the American Indian movement, which began in the 1960s for the rights of the treaties of the American natives and tribal self -determination.
The group Holders grabbed In 1969, when the activists occupied the former island of the Alcatraz prison in the Bay of San Francisco, and again in 1972, when they presented the presidential candidates a list of demands, including the restoration of the tribal land. After they were ignored, they took the headquarters of the Office of Indigenous Affairs.
From then on, the group was subject to the surveillance and harassment of the FBI under an undercover program that sought to interrupt activism and was exposed in 1975.
Peltier’s conviction arose from a confrontation that same year in the Indian reserve Oglala Sioux in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, in which FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams were killed. According to the FBI, the agents were there to comply with arrest orders for theft and assault with a dangerous weapon.
The prosecutors held at the trial that Peltier shot both agents in the head. Peltier acknowledged being present and shooting a gun at a distance, but said he shot in self -defense. A woman who claimed to have seen Peltier shoot the agents later retracted her testimony, saying she had been coerced.
He was convicted of two first degree murder positions and received two consecutive perpetual chains.
Two other members of the movement, the coacked Robert Robideau and Dino Butler, were acquitted by self -defense.
Peltier denied probation As recently as July and was not eligible to be considered again until 2026.
“The liberation of Leonard Peltier is the correct thing given the serious and continuous concerns of human rights about the equity of his judgment, his almost 50 years after bars, his health and his age,” said Paul O’Brien, executive director of Amnesty International. USA in a statement.
Main American native groups such as the National Congress of the American Indian have asked Peltier’s release for decades, and Amnesty International considered him a political prisoner. The prominent supporters included the South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Coretta Scott King civil rights icon, actor and director Robert Redford and musicians Pete Seeger, Harry Belafonte and Jackson Browne.
The generations of indigenous activists and leaders presided over multiple presidents to forgive Peltier. The former Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haland, member of the people of Laguna and the first American native to occupy the position of secretary, praised Biden’s decision.
“I am grateful that Leonard can now go to his family to his family,” he said on January 20 in a publication on the social platform X. “I applaud to President Biden for this action and understanding what this means for the Indian country,” .
When he was a child, Peltier was taken from his family and sent to a boarding school. Thousands of indigenous children for decades faced the same destination, and in many cases they were Submitted to physical, psychological and systemic sexual abuse.
“He really hasn’t had a home since he was taken to a boarding school,” said Nick Tilsen, who has advocated Peltier’s launch from South Dakota. “So he is excited to be at home and paint and have grandchildren running.”
