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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Jan.25, 1996
issue of Workers World newspaper
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On Feb. 6, supporters of Native political prisoner Leonard Peltier will hold demonstrations in front of FBI offices all over the country to demand his release. The Feb. 6 actions mark the 20th anniversary of Peltier's imprisonment.
Lisa Faruolo of the International Office of the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee told Workers World, "We are amazed at how many people have been calling in to the office on a daily basis, ready to hit the streets to demand freedom for Leonard."
Peltier is an American Indian Movement warrior who was wrongfully convicted in 1976 of shooting two FBI agents at Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota in 1975. Peltier's trial was filled with manufactured evidence, intimidated witnesses and outright lies.
Since the trial ended it has been shown that the FBI intentionally withheld evidence that would have proved Peltier's innocence.
Millions of people around the world know of his case and support his bid for freedom. Even the prosecutor of the case now admits that the government has no idea who committed the crime for which Peltier is serving two consecutive life sentences.
Yet the courts have refused to grant Peltier a new trial, and the FBI continues to insist he is guilty.
Sentiment is growing that it is time for the people to take to the streets to demand his release.
Peltier is asking that all his supporters seize the day Feb. 6 by picketing local FBI field offices and distributing literature on the miscarriage of justice committed against him.
His supporters demand that the FBI come clean and admit its own wrongdoing in Peltier's case. They want a formal investigation into both past and current FBI abuses perpetrated against Peltier and his backers.
The FBI is still withholding thousands of pages of documentation. This paperwork quite likely contains important and exculpatory evidence that could be used either to obtain clemency or for future court proceedings. The FBI and other police agencies call Peltier a "cold-blooded executioner," thereby agitating against his receiving any kind of justice.
Faruolo says: "The whole idea behind the Feb. 6 actions is for them to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Leonard's imprisonment. Two decades is a hell of a long time for an innocent man to be incarcerated.
"It's time for the citizens of this country to learn about this injustice and do something about it."
Peltier has had an executive-clemency petition pending before President Bill Clinton and the U.S. Justice Department for well over a year now. He says it is now time to put the clemency campaign into "super-high gear."
Supporters are asked to call the White House at (202) 436- 1111--on a daily basis, if possible--and urge Clinton to grant executive clemency to Peltier.
Prison authorities recently moved Peltier from Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary to the Federal Medical Facility at Springfield, Mo., where he is having a number of long- standing health problems attended to.
Peltier had a parole hearing in December, but has yet to learn the parole board decision.
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