Leonard Peltier is up for parole--support needed urgently

Grassroots support seen as key to July 28 Peltier parole hearing
 
Leonard Peltier, America’s most prominent political prisoner and a symbol of indigenous resistance, is up for parole this month. Having served more than three decades in prisons, Peltier is subject to mandatory Parole Commission regulations stipulating that federal prisoners are presumed eligible for parole after 30 years, at least in the absence of severe prison infractions or threats to reoffend.
 
Of course, as anyone who has followed the case can testify, Peltier has no assurances that the federal government will comply with its own laws.
 
A member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), Peltier was wrongfully convicted in 1977 in connection with the deaths of two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in a shootout at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. During the 1970s, the FBI armed and trained BIA police and death squads known as GOONs (Guardians of the Oglala Nation) to suppress an internal movement supported by AIM against a U.S.-backed dictatorship.
 
For 33 years, Peltier has languished in prison, despite revelations of coerced testimonies, fabricated and suppressed evidence, and federal officials’ statements that it is not known who fired the shots, nor what role Peltier may have played. Peltier is now 64 and suffers from diabetes.
 
Despite multiple attempts on his life and a recent assault in prison, Peltier has carried on the struggle for Native rights, for his own freedom, and for an end to racist oppression and repression at the hands of successive U.S. administrations.   The only threat Peltier’s release poses is that he will remain a vocal advocate for Native rights, as well as an eloquent spokesman for political prisoners and others victimized by the criminal justice system, especially Native inmates.
 
Peltier supporters express confidence in the prospects for Leonard’s release at the end of the month but caution that it will require concerted grassroots support to overcome the behind-the-scenes influence of the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
 
“This is the closest we’ve ever been to gaining my brother’s freedom,” said Betty Peltier-Solano, Executive Coordinator  of the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee. “We just need to make a final push with letters to the parole commission.  If the commission fails to act, it will all fall on President Obama to issue the pardon that Leonard truly deserves.”
 
United States Parole Commission
5550 Friendship Blvd., Ste. 420
Chevy Chase, MD 20815-7286
(Insert Date)
Re: LEONARD PELTIER #89637-132