Please forward this release to your local media on February 5.  If you are
organizing an event, you can add the "what, who, and where" to this release
and send it out sooner.  Thank you!

In Solidarity,
LPDC
 
 

(FOR FEBRUARY 6, 2001 RELEASE)
 

 Peltier Denied Clemency
Advocates Still Committed to Seeking Release

February 6 Marks 25 Years of Imprisonment for Leonard Peltier

CONTACT:
Gina Chiala, Co-Coordinator, Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
 

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.
 

Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
PO Box 583
Lawrence, KS 66044
785-842-5774
www.freepeltier.org