International Day of Protest to Free Leonard Peltier - February 6^th

Groups in over 30 cities plan to unite for an International Day of Protest to Free Leonard Peltier on February 6, 1999. Among the locations where the protests will take place are London; Amsterdam; Brussels; Washington, D.C.;

San Diego; Tacoma, WA; Rapid City SD; and Springfield, MA. The Leonard Peltier Support Group / Greater New England will be rallying and distributing literature on Peltier’s case outside the Federal Building at 1550 Main Street in Springfield, Massachusetts, beginning at noon.

February 6, 1999 marks the twenty-third anniversary of Native American leader Leonard Peltier’s incarceration for allegedly killing two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1975. With a profound hope that he will be free before the millennium, numerous groups have planned events about Leonard’s plight on this anniversary. As supporters of Leonard’s innocence, right to freedom, and valued leadership, we are determined to work for his release.

There is overwhelming evidence that his imprisonment is a gross injustice:

(1) U.S. Prosecutors have admitted they cannot prove Peltier fired the shots that killed the agents; (2) The FBI withheld information from the Peltier defense on key ballistic tests pointing to Leonard’s innocence.

And there is much more indicating that Peltier is essentially a political prisoner of the United States. At the time of the shootout in which the two agents and a Native American died, traditional Lakota Native Americans were resisting the seizure of their land for uranium mining. In the two years before the incident, over 60 resisters had been murdered, without investigation, by a death squad directed by a Native American Council leader known to be armed, trained, and directed by the FBI.

Moreover, Leonard Peltier was extradited to the United States from Canada on the basis of affidavits acknowledged to be false by the Supreme Court of Canada and by the U.S. government in June 1989. In a 1989 decision, the Supreme Court of Canada called the affidavits "suspect to the point of fraud," and urged the Canadian government to "seek immediate and effective diplomatic redress."

As of June 1998, the internal review of the facts concerning Leonard’s extradition from Canada was cleared for release to the public, at the discretion of Canada’s Minister of Justice, the Honorable Anne McLellan. There is little doubt the report will clearly state that the U.S. fraudulently obtained Leonard’s extradition—and that under the terms of our countries’ extradition treaty, the U.S. must return him to Canada, where he will finally be freed. So far, Justice McLellan has refused to release this report.

Leonard Peltier is currently suffering from complications of maxilla-facial surgery he underwent at the Springfield, KS, Medical facility in 1996. He is in excruciating pain, and his health is in peril. Though prison physician Dr. Collins recommends Leonard be treated at the Mayo clinic in Rochester, N.Y., prison officials refuse to temporarily transfer Leonard. Many of the February 6 protesters are fasting and writing letters to help pressure the Bureau of Prisons, Leavenworth prison, and the U.S. Congress to permit Leonard’s immediate transfer to the Mayo Clinic to relieve his agony.

We are also actively lobbying President Clinton to finally abide by his 1992 campaign promise to give Leonard Peltier’s case "a fair and impartial review." Peltier filed a petition for Executive Clemency on November 19, 1993, citing the support of such world leaders as Nelson Mandela and Jesse Jackson, 55 members of Congress, and resolutions passed by several European Parliaments. Meanwhile, 20 million people have written the U.S. Government on behalf of Leonard Peltier, and Amnesty International has cited the Peltier case as a glaring example of FBI tampering with the judicial process in a political trial. More than five years after the petition was filed, President Clinton said the Justice Department hasn’t given him their recommendation yet. This process normally takes six to nine months.

In the first trial regarding the 1975 shoot-out with the FBI on the Pine Ridge Reservation, two American Indian Movement (AIM) members were found not guilty by the jury for reason of self-defense. After losing that case, the FBI seemed to have crossed ethical and legal boundaries to capture and convict AIM leader, Leonard Peltier. Now, twenty-three years later, the February 6 events will be an opportunity to inform more people about the gross injustices of this case and how to further the support of Leonard Peltier for justice and human rights.

"International Day of Protest to Free Leonard Peltier" 6 February 1999 will be found in the following locations:

Amsterdam, Netherlands; Brussells, Belgium; Paris, France; Helsinki, Finland; London, England; Derby, England;

Lima, Peru

Canada

Toronto, Ontario; Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario; Victoria, British Columbia; Regina, Saskatchewan

United States

Albany, NY; Atlanta, Ga; Boston, MA; Baltimore, MD; Chicago, IL; Portland, OR; Eugene, OR; Cincinnati, OH; Kent, OH; Lawrence, KS; Houston, TX; San Diego, CA; San Francisco, CA; Nashville, TN; Rapid City, SD; Springfield, MA; Washington, DC; Portland, ME; Tacoma, WA; Denver, CO; Pontiac, MI; Louisville, KY; Lincoln, NE; Starkville, MS; Jewett City, CT; Hyannis, MA; Hilton Head, SC; Milwaukee, WI

Contacts: Leonard Peltier Support Group / Greater New England
P.O. Box 1999,
Wendell Depot, MA 01380

Jonathan Mark        978-544-7862
Rebecca Tidwell 203-634-8247

Leonard Peltier Defense Committee Attn:Gina Chiala or Keith McHenry
P.O. Box 583, Lawrence, KS 66044 Tel: 785-842-5774, Fax: 5796
http://members.xoom.com/freepeltier/index.html

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