Opinion

Kevin Abourezk: Freedom for Leonard Peltier?

Friday, April 25, 2008

"I had heard Leonard Peltier's name as a child. He was a warrior. A man who had sacrificed himself for the people. Who sat in a jail cell for a crime he did not commit.

In college, I learned others knew his name as well. Archbishop Desmond Tutu knew him and believed he should be freed. Amnesty International called him a political prisoner.

To John Trudell, the explanation for Peltier's imprisonment is simple.

"The government could never allow the truth to come out," the former American Indian Movement chairman said recently in an interview. "Peltier's imprisonment ... is about the government using the conviction of Peltier as a cover-up."

For the first time in 15 years, Peltier will get a full hearing before the U.S. Parole Commission in December. However, Friends of Peltier believes his hearing is more likely to occur in early 2009 because of the commission's schedule for parole reviews that it plans to hold at the United States Pentitentiary in Lewisburg, Penn., where Peltier is currently imprisoned.

The hearing will lead to a full reassessment of Peltier's case, according to Friends of Peltier.

Of course, other avenues of release exist for Peltier, including a possible presidential pardon by exiting President George W. Bush at the end of the year."

Get the Story:
Could Peltier Be Freed in December? (RezNet News 4/25)