FARGO, N.D. (KFGO) – A crowd gathered in front of the Quentin Burdick Federal Courthouse in Fargo to rally for the immediate release of Leonard Peltier on Monday.
The crowd of about 50 people included organizers and activists such as Nick Estes, Prairie Rose Seminole, Karen Van Fossan, Tribal Chair Delbert Hopkins, and North Dakota State Representative Ruth Buffalo. Several people spoke, calling for the release of Peltier and the crowd chanted for his release.
Buffalo also called for a review of requests for compassionate release by other incarcerated tribal elders.
“How many Native American incarcerated elders are being granted compassionate release?” Buffalo asked the crowd. “Because too many of us know all too well that our incarcerated elder relatives are being completely bypassed for compassionate release in our federal prisons and why is that?”
Supporters say Peltier, who is incarcerated in Florida Federal Penitentiary, is the country’s longest-serving indigenous political prisoner. The 77-year-old Peltier, who tested positive for Covid-19 in late January, is reportedly in ill-health.
Peltier has been in prison for 45 years after being convicted of murdering two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
James Reynolds, one of the federal prosecutors who helped convict Peltier, has called for the commutation of Peltier’s sentence. He has also asked President Biden to give Peltier executive clemency based on what Reynolds says was prosecutorial misconduct and fake evidence used during the trial.
A large number of human rights leaders have joined in calls for Peltier’s release over the years, including Pope Francis, Mother Theresa, and Nelson Mandela.
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