wfn.org | NCCCUSA SUPPORTS LEONARD PELTIER LEGAL PETITION

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227
Email:  news@ncccusa.org    Web:  www.ncccusa.org

80NCC7/7/99 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NCC SUPPORTS LEGAL PETITION ON LEONARD PELTIER'S BEHALF

 NEW YORK - A habeas corpus petition challenging the
denial by the U.S. Parole Commission of Leonard Peltier's
substantive and procedural parole rights has been filed in
federal district court in Topeka, Kansas - a "first" in any
U.S. court.

 The initiative, by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey
Clark, has support from the National Council of Churches.
The NCC, whose 35 Protestant and Orthodox member communions
have 52 million members, already is on record in support of
Peltier's release - including in a November 1997 resolution
by its highest governing body, its General Assembly.

 Peltier, a Native American,. originally was convicted
in 1977 for the first degree murders of two FBI agents, Jack
Coler and Ronald Williams.  He has maintained his innocence.
Amnesty International considers Peltier a political prisoner
and has insisted that he be immediately and unconditionally
released.  He has become a worldwide symbol of injustice
against political prisoners and against Indigenous Peoples
of the Americas.

 The petition was filed by Clark and by attorneys Carl
Nadler and Lawrence Schilling on June 4, 1999.  It
challenges as illegal, clearly erroneous, arbitrary,
capricious and unconstitutional the U.S. Parole Commission's
denial of parole to Peltier along with its decision to
schedule Peltier's next parole release hearing in December
2008.  This is 17 years in excess of the Commission's
applicable guidelines  and six years after the date set by
Congress for the total abolition of the Parole Commission
itself.

 For more information, contact Sammy Toineeta, NCC
Racial Justice Director, 212-870-2387; the law office of
Ramsey Clark, 212-475-3232, or the Leonard Peltier Defense
Committee, 785-842-5774.

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