Leonard Peltier
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Leonard Peltier (born September 12, 1944) is a Native American activist and member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) who was convicted of two counts of first degree murder in the deaths of two Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents in a June 26, 1975, shooting on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He was sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment.Peltier became eligible for parole in 1993.
On January 19, 2025, Peltier's sentence was commuted to indefinite house arrest by President Joe Biden shortly before he left office. He is scheduled to be released from prison on February 18, 2025.
He was suspected of being involved in the kidnapping, rape and murder of Anna Mae Aquash, a First Nation Canadian woman and member of AIM in 1975.
In his 1999 memoir Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance, Peltier admitted to participating in the shootout but said he did not kill the FBI agents.
However, witnesses say he confessed, and Kamook Nichols testified against him. Human rights watchdogs, such as Amnesty International, and political figures including Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and the 14th Dalai Lama, have campaigned for clemency for Peltier.
At the time of the shootout, Peltier was an active member of AIM, an Indigenous rights advocacy group that worked to combat the racism and police brutality experienced by Native Americans.
en.wikipedia.org
On January 19, 2025, Peltier's sentence was commuted to indefinite house arrest by President Joe Biden shortly before he left office. He is scheduled to be released from prison on February 18, 2025.
He was suspected of being involved in the kidnapping, rape and murder of Anna Mae Aquash, a First Nation Canadian woman and member of AIM in 1975.
In his 1999 memoir Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance, Peltier admitted to participating in the shootout but said he did not kill the FBI agents.
At the time of the shootout, Peltier was an active member of AIM, an Indigenous rights advocacy group that worked to combat the racism and police brutality experienced by Native Americans.
