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On February 6th, 1998 it will be exactly 22 years that the American Indian political prisoner Leonard Peltier was arrested in Canada. The Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (LPDC),Leonard Peltier Support Groups (LPSGs) worldwide, KOLA,Food Not Bombs, various chapters of the American Indian Movement (AIM), Aztlan Liberation Organization, and many other groups and organizations will be organizing demonstrations at federal buildings in the United States and at U.S. embassies around the world.

Leonard Peltier is an American Indian (Anishinabe/Lakota) activist who has been imprisoned since February 6, 1976 for the June 26, 1975 shoot-out between the FBI and the American Indian Movement in which two federal agents, Coler and Williams, and a young American Indian man, Joe Stuntz,were killed. The FBI had entered sovereign Oglala Lakota Nation territory (Pine Ridge Reservation) in South Dakota, with a warrant of arrest that did not exist against a young Oglala man who had allegedly stolen a pair of cowboy boot -- an offense of which no-one is sure it actually happened.The FBI opened fire on the peaceful AIM tent encampment. The death of Joe Stuntz, killed by an FBI sniper, was never investigated. But someone had to pay for the death of the two agents, and the FBI organized one of the largest manhunts in its history. Three men were arrested. Bob Robideau and Darelle "Dino" Butler were acquitted for reasons of legitimate self-defense; the charges against the third person were dropped so the FBI could "fully concentrate" on Leonard Peltier who had fled to Canada in fear of his life. His extradition was based on FBI-fabricated false evidence. Four years after his incarceration, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)  suit released thousands of documents which proved Leonard Peltier's innocence and the FBI's use of their infamous Cointelpro program in their efforts to neutralize the members ofAIM.

During the civil unrest of the 1960s and 70s, the FBI created Cointelpro, or Counter Intelligence Program, which was designed to destroy any organization considered by the U.S. government, FBI or CIA to be politically or socially "dissident ". By using techniques of infiltration, intimidation, bad-jacketing, forgery, and provoking violence within and between groups and law enforcement, the FBI hoped to nullify their progress. Those targeted included groups focused on anti-Vietnam Wardemonstrations, Black civil rights, Native civil rights, equal rights for women. Dr. Martin Luther King was killed by Cointelpro. Numerous members of the Black Panther Party were killed or imprisoned by Cointelpro. And after the occupation of Wounded Knee, 1973, the American Indian Movement became a prime target for Cointelpro.

Today, following the FOIA law suit that released over 16,000 of FBI documents, it can be proven without a doubt that there is no evidence whatsoever, physical nor verbal, to substantiate the government's argument against LeonardPeltier. In fact, in two separate court proceedings, the prosecution has been forced to admit that they do not know who killed the FBI agents. The ballistic reports prove that the deadly bullets did not match Leonard Peltier's gun. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the withholding of certain documents cast a strong doubt on the government's case and that the FBI was guilty of a clear abuse of the investigative process. Yet, Peltier's appeals have been denied on technicalities. One Senior Judge, Gerald Heaney, a man who sat on two of Peltier's appeals, has written to the President asking for a commutation of Peltier's sentence.

Leonard Peltier was sentenced to two times life for a crime he did NOT commit. Peltier has received the support of almost every religious world leader, numerous foreign politicians, several members of the U.S. Congress and Senate. On 15 December 1994, the European Parliament adopted a resolution asking President Clinton to grant executive clemency to this political prisoner and to open an investigation into the misconduct of the FBI. In April 1997, the Belgian Parliament adopted a similar resolution.
Leonard Peltier filed for executive clemency in 1995. His file is still under consideration with the U.S. Attorney General, Janet Reno, who has to give her recommendations to President Clinton.

Today, February 6, 1998, human rights activists worldwide will go out on the streets and shout for justice:

EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY FOR LEONARD PELTIER NOW!!!
Support the Campaign and fax, phone or  send emails to:

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.  And no one will ever be really free as long as Leonard Peltier is incarcerated.

List of Actions on Februar 6th Reports of Actions

Italian Leonard Peltier Homepage