MIM Notes 193 
September 1, 1999

Peltier: Imprisoned for indigenous self-determination struggle

by MIM

On June 3, 1999, Leonard Peltier's lawyers filed a petition of 
habeas corpus. Peltier's lawyers and supporters have documented 
numerous details of witnesses lying, tampering with evidence, and 
falsified ballistics evidence. Following an FBI-instigated shoot-
out on the Pine Ridge reservation, Leonard was portrayed as a 
cold-blooded killer during a trial that was merely a formality to 
his imprisonment. His parole has repeatedly been denied, and in 
spite of the mountainous evidence of an unjustified conviction he 
has not been permitted to contest the reasons for his continued 
imprisonment.

The government justifies its denial of parole by saying that 
Peltier's crime involved an ambush of Federal Bureau of 
Investigation (FBI) officers and was a close-range, pre-meditated 
attack. Yet FBI files released since his original trial that show 
that the FBI plotted and carried out a pre-meditated assault on 
Peltier and the people living in the Jumping Bull compound at Pine 
Ridge.

Jennifer Harbury, a member of Peltier's legal team stated: "This 
is not a matter of an unfair trial. This is a case of an innocent 
person being framed." Amerika has fictionalized the case against 
Peltier to hinder a just struggle for self-determination.

With intensified support for his freedom and the mounting evidence 
in Peltier's favor, his release seems more possible than in years 
past. MIM supports the legal fight Peltier's freedom. We also 
agree with his supporters that activists must work consistently in 
the courts of public opinion to win any reforms under the current 
system.

Ultimately, the people must seize state power, recapture land and 
build institutions representing the interests of the oppressed. 
Governments of the people will need to re-try the more than 1.8 
million people within Amerika's prisons so that Amerika-labelled 
prisoners can be judged by their peers. The Amerikan kangaroo 
courts can be petitioned for some proletarian gains, but cannot be 
a means of lasting justice.



Amerika's Genocidal War continues

In 1973, comprador tribal chief Dick Wilson's paramilitary 
Guardians of the Oglala Nation (GOONs) were terrorizing the Oglala 
people. GOONs were responsible for dozens of murders and terror 
throughout Oglala. Roselyn Jumping Bull had asked the American 
Indian Movement (AIM), of which Peltier was an organizer, to 
provide protection from the GOONs. AIM responded as part of its 
work to meet the people's needs and to fight for freedom. AIM 
educated about and protested against the ongoing Amerikan genocide 
of and broken treaties with indigenous nations. AIM also did basic 
work among the people of Pine Ridge, helping to plant gardens, 
rebuild homes that had been shattered by GOON squad attacks, and 
built support for self-determination.

After years of increased activity by AIM, allied traditionals and 
sympathetic supporters, the FBI sought a justification to 
intensify its assault against AIM. June 26, 1975, two FBI agents 
invented a case of theft, and raided the Jumping Bull compound. 
Assuming that the GOONs were attacking, AIM returned fire, and in 
the fighting, the two FBI agents were killed.

Almost immediately, helicopters, 200 state troopers, GOONs, u.$. 
marshals and SWAT teams had gathered nearby. The following day, 
the FBI multiplied its invasion forces including hundreds of M-16-
equipped FBI agents and other pigs, at least nine armored 
personnel carriers and several Huey helicopters. The invasion 
included warrantless searches, destruction of property, physical 
intimidation and false arrests. The FBI murdered AIM member Joe 
Stuntz Killsright during the attack. This type of invasion had 
been launched before and would be repeated in the FBI's war 
against AIM.

Peltier fled across the illegitimate border between the united 
snakes and canada. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) 
captured Peltier and extradited him on a faked affidavit. Unjustly 
arrested for the deaths of two FBI agents during the invasion, 
Leonard Peltier has been in prison for 23 years. The FBI and state 
fabricated evidence used to extradite Peltier and build the case 
against him. The FBI coerced witnesses and mysteriously lost 
exculpatory evidence. It withheld ballistic evidence that favored 
the defense. The judge cooperated with the conviction train, 
refusing to admit evidence that proved the FBI's intent to destroy 
AIM. He excluded the evidence that had helped to get other AIM 
members acquitted on the same charges Peltier faced.

Legal defense targets inconsistent justification for imprisonment

Almost two decades after the trial, files obtained through the 
Freedom of Information Act revealed what AIM had suspected at the 
time: the FBI raid was pre-planned. Prior to the attack, AIM was 
under increased surveillance. The swift military response to the 
initial firefight could have only been coordinated with advance 
preparation. During an appeal in the 8th Circuit Court, the basis 
for Peltier's conviction was discredited. The most precise 
ballistic tests prove that the gun used in evidence at Peltier's 
trial did not kill the FBI agents. The FBI knew this, but 
suppressed it during the trial.

Even the government says it can no longer prove Peltier's guilt. 
Among layers of lies, it is clear that the FBI planned and 
instigated the shoot-out, not Peltier. The state has already 
agreed that this new evidence is valid, yet a judge has ruled that 
the evidence would not affect the outcome of a re-trial. Yet this 
discredited evidence is the legal justification for denying 
Peltier parole. Peltier's defense team argues that the state needs 
to choose: either Peltier should get a new trial because of 
falsified evidence in the original trial or the state must stop 
using the falsified evidence to refuse parole.

Peltier's lawyers argue that failures of the parole system are 
working against Peltier. As Dennis Brutus shouted during his 
speech: "After 23 disgraceful years it is time to Free Leonard 
Peltier!"

Organize to end oppression!
Fight imperialism and settler nation domination!
Freedom for Peltier and all political leaders!
End the Amerikan lockdown!

For a thorough accounting of the FBI's COINTELPRO wars against 
both the American Indian Movement and the Black Panther Party, MIM 
recommends "Agents of Repression" by Ward Churchill and Jim Vander 
Wall. [Available from MIM Distributors for $20.] 

edited by MC45