BY JOHN STUDER
DES MOINES, Iowa-"I know how critical it is that the Clemency Campaign continues and grows," Lisa Faruolo, editor of the Spirit of Crazy Horse, the publication of the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, writes in the March-April issue.

Peltier, a Native American political activist, is a prisoner in the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas. His supporters are campaigning to win his release on executive clemency.

In 1976 Peltier was indicted, along with other members of the American Indian Movement (AIM), on U.S. government charges that he participated in the killing of two FBI agents. The agents had attacked a group of Native Americans camped in Oglala, South Dakota.

The other AIM members were tried in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and acquitted on grounds of self defense. Peltier was tried separately in 1977, after being extradited from Canada on a falsified affidavit from the FBI. His trial was moved to Fargo, North Dakota, and, in a lynch-mob atmosphere, he was convicted. The day after the conviction, Peltier told his supporters "the government lied and we will prove it."

Federal appeals courts have ruled that the government withheld critical evidence from Peltier and that the FBI agents who conducted the investigation engaged in "improper conduct." Peltier was convicted of firing the shots that killed the two agents, even though government lawyers admitted at the appeals hearings that they do not know who fired the shots. Nonetheless, all Peltier's legal appeals have been rejected.

In 1993, the U.S. Parole Commission denied Peltier parole, and told him that he must serve an additional 15 years - until 2008 - before they will consider him again for release.

In November 1993, former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark filed a request with President Bill Clinton to grant Peltier executive clemency.

Since then, hundreds of thousands have signed petitions urging clemency and participated in marches and other activities pressing for Peltier's release. Many have telephoned the White House in support of the clemency drive. The European Parliament passed a resolution in 1994 stating, "Mr. Peltier has exhausted all the appeal procedures under U.S. law and urges presidential clemency or commutation of Mr. Peltier's sentence."

Last June, hundreds gathered in Lafayette Park across from the White House in Washington, D.C., to support the call for his freedom.

The FBI continues to use every means at its disposal to derail Peltier's fight for freedom. On July 15, 1994, the FBI Agents Association and the Society of Former Agents of the FBI ran an ad in the Washington Post headlined, "Dear Mr. President: Leonard Peltier murdered two FBI agents. He deserves no clemency." Its publication was timed to coincide with the arrival in Washington of the Walk for Justice, a group led by Native American rights activist Dennis Banks, which had marched across the country to the capitol to advance Peltier's fight.

"We are making waves in Washington, D.C.," Faruolo said. "We've gotten calls by members of Congress for additional information. We have a lobbyist following up with meeting after meeting."

The defense committee, along with Amnesty International, has called a Peltier Weekend in Washington, D.C., June 25-26. This marks the 20th anniversary of the "incident at Oglala," the FBI attack that led to the victimization of Peltier. The two-day protest includes a rally in Lafayette Park June 25 and an educational forum at the Ward Building at American University to discuss how to advance the fight to win clemency for Peltier.

Committee staff member Bill May told The Militant that confirmed speakers for the weekend include David Dellinger of the War Resisters League, a victim of a government frame-up attempt for his opposition to the war in Vietnam, and Suzy Baer, producer of PBS documentary "Warrior - The Life of Leonard Peltier." Robert Redford, producer of the widely known film on Peltier's case Incident at Oglala, has tentatively agreed to speak.

The committee urges supporters of justice to write to President Bill Clinton, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C. 20500, and urge him to grant clemency to Peltier.

For more information on the 20th anniversary rally and the clemency campaign, contact the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, P.O. Box 583, Lawrence, Kansas 66044.  
 
 
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