AUT: International Day of Protest to Free Leonard Peltier

[Leonard Peltier Support Group <noflyby@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	


International Day of Protest to Free Leonard Peltier  - February 6th


Contacts:	Leonard Peltier Support Group / Greater New England
		P.O. Box 1999			Jonathan Mark	978-544-7862
		Wendell Depot, MA 01380		Rebecca Tidwell	203-634-8247

Leonard Peltier Defense Committee	Attn:Gina Chiala or Keith McHenry
P.O. Box 583, Lawrence, KS 66044	Tel: 785-842-5774, Fax: 5796
http://members.xoom.com/freepeltier/index.html


"I have never lost my strong belief in the Creator. I know that he has asked
me to sacrifice to aid my people and I am doing that. I pray that this is
not a lifelong obligation. Perhaps I am here to call attention to the plight
of Indian people or maybe I am here to further the fight for our religious
and cultural freedom. Perhaps my imprisonment will expose this country's
dual judicial system and maybe it will help to unite people all races and
religions in the crucial quest for peace and justice."

- Leonard Peltier



Groups in over 30 cities plan to unite for an International Day of Protest
to Free Leonard Peltier on February 6, 1999. Among the locations* where the
protests will take place are London; Amsterdam; Brussels; Washington, D.C.;
San Diego; Tacoma, WA; Rapid City SD; and Springfield, MA. The Leonard
Peltier Support Group / Greater New England will be rallying and
distributing literature on Peltier's case outside the Federal Building at
1550 Main Street in Springfield, Massachusetts, beginning at noon.

February 6, 1999 marks the twenty-third anniversary of Native American
leader Leonard Peltier's incarceration for allegedly killing two FBI agents
on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1975. With a profound hope that he
will be free before the millennium, numerous groups have planned events
about Leonard's plight on this anniversary. As supporters of Leonard's
innocence, right to freedom, and valued leadership, we are determined to
work for his release.

There is overwhelming evidence that his imprisonment is a gross injustice:
(1) U.S. Prosecutors have admitted they cannot prove Peltier fired the shots
that killed the agents; (2) The FBI withheld information from the Peltier
defense on key ballistic tests pointing to Leonard's innocence.

And there is much more indicating that Peltier is essentially a political
prisoner of the United States.  At the time of the shootout in which the two
agents and a Native American died, traditional Lakota Native Americans were
resisting the seizure of their land for uranium mining.  In the two years
before the incident, over 60 resisters had been murdered, without
investigation, by a death squad directed by a Native American Council leader
known to be armed, trained, and directed by the FBI.

Moreover, Leonard Peltier was extradited to the United States from Canada on
the basis of affidavits acknowledged to be false by the Supreme Court of
Canada and by the U.S. government in June 1989. In a 1989 decision, the
Supreme Court of Canada called the affidavits "suspect to the point of
fraud," and urged the Canadian government to "seek immediate and effective
diplomatic redress."

As of June 1998, the internal review of the facts concerning Leonard's
extradition from Canada was cleared for release to the public, at the
discretion of Canada's Minister of Justice, the Honorable Anne McLellan.
There is little doubt the report will clearly state that the U.S.
fraudulently obtained Leonard's extradition -- and that under the terms of
our countries' extradition treaty, the U.S. must return him to Canada, where
he will finally be freed. So far, Justice McLellan has refused to release
this report.

Leonard Peltier is currently suffering from complications of maxilla-facial
surgery he underwent at the Springfield, KS, Medical facility in 1996. He is
in excruciating pain, and his health is in peril. Though prison physician
Dr. Collins recommends Leonard be treated at the Mayo clinic in Rochester,
N.Y., prison officials refuse to temporarily transfer Leonard. Many of the
February 6 protesters are fasting and writing letters to help pressure the
Bureau of Prisons, Leavenworth prison, and the U.S. Congress to permit
Leonard's immediate transfer to the Mayo Clinic to relieve his agony.

We are also actively lobbying President Clinton to finally abide by his 1992
campaign promise to give Leonard Peltier's case "a fair and impartial
review."  Peltier filed a petition for Executive Clemency on November 19,
1993, citing the support of such world leaders as Nelson Mandela and Jesse
Jackson, 55 members of Congress, and resolutions passed by several European
Parliaments. Meanwhile, 20 million people have written the U.S. Government
on behalf of Leonard Peltier, and Amnesty International has cited the
Peltier case as a glaring example of FBI tampering with the judicial process
in a political trial. More than five years after the petition was filed,
President Clinton said the Justice Department hasn't given him their
recommendation yet. This process normally takes six to nine months.

In the first trial regarding the 1975 shoot-out with the FBI on the Pine
Ridge Reservation, two American Indian Movement (AIM) members were found not
guilty by the jury for reason of self-defense. After losing that case, the
FBI seemed to have crossed ethical and legal boundaries to capture and
convict AIM leader, Leonard Peltier. Now, twenty-three years later, the
February 6 events will be an opportunity to inform more people about the
gross injustices of this case and how to further the support of Leonard
Peltier for justice and human rights.



* "International Day of Protest to Free Leonard Peltier" 6 February 1999
will be found in the following locations:

Europe
Amsterdam, Netherlands; Brussells, Belgium; Paris, France; Helsinki,
Finland; London, England; Derby, England

South America
Lima, Peru

Canada
Toronto, Ontario;  Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario; Victoria, British Columbia;
Regina, Saskatchewan

United States
Albany, NY; Atlanta, Ga;  Boston, MA; Baltimore, MD; Chicago, IL; Portland,
OR; Eugene, OR; Cincinnati, OH; Kent, OH; Lawrence, KS; Houston, TX; San
Diego, CA; San Francisco, CA; Nashville, TN; Rapid City, SD; Springfield,
MA; Washington, DC; Portland, ME; Tacoma, WA; Denver, CO; Pontiac, MI;
Louisville, KY; Lincoln, NE; Starkville, MS; Jewett City, CT; Hyannis, MA;
Hilton Head, SC; Milwaukee, WI




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