Ruth Hopkins: Leonard Peltier should be set free after 36 years

If anyone knew what a political prisoner was, it was Nelson Mandela. He had 27 years to think on it. He recognized Native American activist Leonard Peltier as a fellow political prisoner, and called for his release. Mandela is far from alone in his request. Amnesty International, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, the National Congress of American Indians, various governing bodies around the globe, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and the Dalai Lama, among many others, have all called for Leonard Peltier’s freedom.

Leonard Peltier (Anishinabe/Dakota) is currently serving two consecutive life sentences for the murder of two FBI agents shot during armed conflict on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975. The Pine Ridge Reservation was established in 1889 by the U.S. Government. After breaking Treaty with the Lakota, the U.S. military forcibly relocated the Oglala there.

During the 1970s, Pine Ridge was a dangerous place. The community was virtually at war with itself as traditional Oglala, assisted by members of the American Indian Movement, defended themselves against pro-government Tribal members, backed by the chairman’s private militia “Guardians of the Oglala Nation” (GOON), and the FBI. Lakota along with AIM, who took over Wounded Knee in 1973, were subjected to a 71 day siege by federal forces. Over the next three years, some 60 AIM members, along with their supporters were murdered on the Pine Ridge Reservation. This is the atmosphere in which the shootout leading to the deaths of the two FBI agents occurred.

Leonard was extradited from Canada after two other individuals were found not guilty of the murders. That extradition was based on an affidavit that was later recanted. Leonard’s trials and subsequent appeals have been replete with error, including the manufacturing and hiding of evidence, false testimony, the withholding of over 900 FBI documents related to the participation of 24 other people in the shootout, and multiple constitutional violations.