wfn.org | Church and Society appeals for activist release from prison

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

April 7, 1999 Contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-34-71B{192)

By Shanta M. Bryant*

WASHINGTON (UMNS) -- The United Methodist Church's public policy and
advocacy agency is urging President Bill Clinton to grant executive clemency
to an internationally recognized Native American activist, who has spent
more than two decades in prison.

The 63-member governing body of the United Methodist Board of Church and
Society unanimously adopted a resolution in March calling for widespread
support for clemency for Leonard Peltier, a Native American civil rights
activist. Peltier was sentenced 22 years ago for the murder of two FBI
agents. Parole hearings have concluded that he was "both falsely accused and
falsely convicted," the board noted in the resolution. 

The Rev. Thom White Wolf Fassett, top executive at the agency, has
personally spoken to Clinton and U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno requesting
clemency for Peltier. He was also urged by board members to contact South
African President Nelson Mandela and ask him to join in the call for
Peltier's release.

The case has attracted international attention, and Peltier has been
recognized by human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International. In
addition, he was recognized as a human rights defender at the 50th
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Paris. 

An outspoken member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), a Native civil
rights organization, Peltier was sentenced in 1977 to two consecutive life
terms.  

"He is the only Native American political prisoner from the activist era of
the 1970s that is still languishing in the prison system," said Fassett, who
also is Native American.

On June 26, 1975, two FBI agents drove to an AIM encampment known as Tent
City on the property of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. They
were searching for a Native American man who was suspected of stealing a
pair of used cowboy boots. Witnesses testify that tensions were high, and
the sequence of events led to a gunfight between approximately 150 federal
agents and local police and about 30 Native Americans. Two agents and one
Native American were killed.  

Although Peltier was present during the gunfight, he denies shooting the
agents or ordering the shooting.  

Peltier and other AIM members were at the reservation to work with and
support the Oglala Sioux, whose land was under threat of government mining.

Human rights activists charge that Peltier was framed and convicted with no
supporting evidence. 

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals' final decision determined that FBI
misconduct and judicial impropriety were involved in Peltier's trial and
previous appeals.  

"The U.S. government must share the responsibility with the Native Americans
for the June 26, 1975, firefight," concluded Judge Gerald Haney, a member of
the appellate court that heard two of Peltier's appeals, in 1984 and 1986.

"He was a scapegoat used by a system seeking to 'settle up' or even the
score against vocal Native Americans," Fassett said. "Since he was a
well-known Native American figure, he was specifically targeted as a
suspect."

Peltier filed for executive clemency five years ago, but he has not received
a personal response other than a file form indicating that the petition was
under review by the U.S. Justice Department.

Peltier's poor health and the lack of appropriate care in the prison system
are further reasons for immediate clemency, according to the Board of Church
and Society. He is suffering from complications from a maxilla-facial
surgery and is reportedly in pain.  

# # #

*Bryant is program director of communications and associate editor of
Christian Social Action magazine for the United Methodist Board of Church
and Society.

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