Peltier’s case in federal court

Leonard Peltier’s lawyer argued in federal court in New York on Feb. 7 that under the Freedom of Information Act the Buffalo office of the FBI must release documents kept from the defense.

Although these documents are over 30 years old, the government continues to block release of this information on the basis that disclosure would, among other things, hamper the “war on transnational terrorism” and reveal the identities of confidential sources.

The FBI refuses to even check if the informants named in those documents are still alive. Peltier has been imprisoned for over 30 years for what his supporters, some shown here at the courthouse,  consider a frame-up trial related to a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge, N.D., reservation, in which two FBI agents were killed.

—Report & photo by Ellen Catalinotto