The Final Call

Leonard Peltier denied parole again

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“Despite the years of protest against Leonard Peltier's wrongful imprisonment; despite government officials' admissions over the years that they have no idea who killed FBI agents [Ronald A.] Williams and [Jack R.] Coler; despite the overwhelming evidence of egregious FBI malfeasance including civil and human rights violations; and despite the literally millions of signatures calling for the release of Peltier, he remains in prison to this day.” Ramsey Clark, June 27, 1998, speaking at rally in front of the White House.

(FinalCall.com) - On August 21, the U.S. Parole Commission for the second time denied parole to Leonard Peltier, who had appeared on July 28 before the parole board at Lewisburg Penitentiary in Pennsylvania. This was his second full parole hearing since his incarceration in 1977, the first was in 1993.

Leonard Peltier

The popular Native American advocate for human rights was sentenced in a Fargo, North Dakota court to two-life sentences for the killing of the two FBI agents during a standoff on the South Dakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Mr. Peltier has always declared his innocence, saying the FBI framed him.

Mr. Peltier's Honolulu-based attorney, Eric Seitz placed his reaction to the parole decision on his Facebook page: “This is an extreme action by the same law enforcement community that brought us the deliberate imprisonment of suspected teenage terrorists, tortures, and killings in CIA prisons around the world; and promoted widespread disrespect for the democratic concepts of justice upon which this nation supposedly was founded on.”

Attorney Seitz is known for calling for trying former president, George W. Bush, his vice president, Dick Cheyney and the first Secretary of Defense in his administration, Donald Rumsfeld for war crimes for launching the war in Iraq. “We will continue to seek parole and clemency for Mr. Peltier, and to eventually bring this prolonged injustice to a prompt and fair resolution,” he said.

The organizations fighting for the Mr. Peltier's release say they will now push for ‘executive clemency,' which means the commuting of his sentence—not a pardon, according to the Leonard Peltier Defense/Offense Committee and The Friends of Leonard Peltier.

“The president can decrease the amount of time served, or grant an immediate release for time served,” states the LPDOC on its website. The Friends of LP said they would urge Congress to hold full and open hearings on the long term effect of COINTELPRO on the American Indian Movement and other activist organizations.

The organization also wants Congress to investigate what they call “The Reign of Terror” against the Pine Ridge Reservation from 1973 to 1976.

The FBI has been exerting massive pressure to continue the Mr. Peltier's incarceration, claim his supporters. The No Parole Peltier Association, which is run by a former FBI agent has posted on their Web site that they “are strongly opposed to parole,” and on March 14 the organization told Pres. Barack Obama in a letter not to “give consideration to his [Peltier's] petition for executive clemency.”

Organizations that support Mr. Peltier's release such as Amnesty International said they “regret” the parole commission's decision. “The interest of justice would be best served by granting Leonard Peltier parole,” Angela Wright, a U.S. researcher for AI said in a press release. “We urge the U.S. Parole Commission to reconsider its decision.”

AI submitted a letter of concern to the U.S. Attorney General on June 23, 1995; and received no response.

Kari Ann Peltier-Cowan, a niece of Mr. Peltier speaking to The Final Call from the North Dakota offices of the LPDOC, said “a lot of people are upset about the decision, and have been expressing their outrage.”

She said for now people are being asked to write to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Dept. of Justice, 950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20530-001 or call, 202-353-1555; and ask him to conduct an executive review in the case of Leonard Peltier.