In a September 24 phone interview from the defense committee’s offices in Lawrence, Kansas, Bruce reported that five days earlier Peltier’s attorneys had asked the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to grant him a parole hearing.

That day, more than 200 rallied outside the courthouse in Denver demanding that Peltier be granted parole. The defense committee does not expect the court to rule on the request for a parole hearing for a number of months.

According to Bruce, Peltier has been eligible for parole since 1986. Despite having a prison record with no problems, he has now been incarcerated for more than 11 years beyond the length of time established as the “norm” by the U.S. Parole Commission in connection with the offenses of which he is accused, she said.

Peltier, a member of the Anishinabe-Lakota nation and a leader of the American Indian Movement (AIM), is in prison on false charges of killing two FBI agents in a 1975 shoot-out at the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota.

Bruce noted that supporters of the campaign to free Peltier had asked President William Clinton to grant him a pardon at the end of 2000 before he left office. Some 500 FBI agents and relatives organized a high-profile protest outside the White House, demanding that Peltier’s request be turned down. She said that Clinton did not deny the request for parole but simply ignored it, which defenders of Peltier did not learn until President George Bush was inaugurated.

She reported that, to her knowledge, no journalist has been allowed to visit Peltier at the Leavenworth, Kansas, federal prison since his bid for clemency.

In a phone interview, Barry Bachrach, Peltier’s lead attorney, explained that at Peltier’s 1976 trial the FBI provided only three documents to the defense and has always claimed that these were all that existed.

Over the years, his defense campaign has acquired, through the Freedom of Information Act, another 12,000 documents. Those documents, he said, demonstrate that the FBI withheld crucial evidence that was not presented at the trial.

Bachrach said that the FBI has hidden behind the guise of “national security interests,” withholding thousands of additional documents that the defense committee is demanding.

Bruce said the defense committee is asking people to get involved in the campaign. “We want to join with others on campuses to reach youth through forums for support,” she said.

The Leonard Peltier Defense Committee has support groups in 27 states and eight European countries.

For more information contact the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, P.O. Box 583, Lawrence, KS 66044-0583. Tel: (785) 842-5774. Fax: (785) 842-5796. E-mail: info@leonardpeltier.org  
 
 
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