Respectful Greetings,
The International Indian Treaty Council (IITC), an Indigenous Peoples organization in General Consultative Status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, joins with human rights organizations, Tribal Nations, Tribal organizations, including the National Congress of American Indians, and United Nations human rights experts to request your favorable consideration of parole for Mr. Leonard Peltier. Mr. Peltier is Anishinaabe, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, and has been in prison for more than 48 years.
The IITC is extremely concerned with Mr. Peltier’s failing health. Mr. Peltier is almost 80 years old and has several compounding health conditions, including kidney disease, diabetes, near-total blindness, and an untreated aortic aneurysm. He requires a wheelchair.
The IITC affirms the widely held view that Mr. Peltier’s conviction was an egregious miscarriage of justice and, among other things, a violation of his due process rights. He was sentenced in 1977 to two consecutive life terms in connection with the June 26, 1975, shooting and deaths of two agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on the Pine Ridge Reservation, SD, after a trial which has been widely criticized as a blatant miscarriage of due process.
We are certain that had he gone to trial with his co-defendants, who were acquitted on grounds of self-defense; been allowed to present all of the evidence in his defense, including instances of FBI intimidation of witnesses and suborned perjury; and been critical ballistics evidence reflecting his innocence not been withheld from defense counsel and the jury, Leonard Peltier would not have been convicted.
As a signatory to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), the United States of America must undertake to prohibit and eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, including Indigenous Peoples, to equality before the law. Prohibitions against discrimination are also contained in the United Nations (UN) Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
In paragraph 91 of the report on his official country visit to the United States issued on August 30, 2012, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Professor James Anaya, made a similar recommendation:
Other measures of reconciliation should include efforts to
identify and heal particular sources of open wounds. And
hence, for example, promised reparations should be provided
to the descendants of the Sands Creek massacre, and new or
renewed consideration should be given to clemency for
Leonard Peltier.
Leonard Peltier is now 79 years old and a great-grandfather. He has fulfilled his federal sentencing guideline requirements but has been repeatedly denied parole. We have seen the commitment the Biden Administration has shown to Indian Country and Indigenous Peoples. We need to see that same commitment to repair the relationship between the U.S. and Indigenous Peoples of this land in Mr. Peltier’s case.
The time remaining to grant parole for Leonard Peltier is dwindling. He deserves to spend his remaining days peacefully with his family with full access to required medical care. He is not a threat to anyone.
We thank you for your consideration of our request to grant parole for Mr. Peltier.
Ron Lameman,
President International Indian Treaty Council
Andrea Carmen,
Executive Director International Indian Treaty Council
Working for the Rights and Recognition of Indigenous Peoples
Trabajando por los Derechos y el Reconocimiento de los Pueblos Indígenas
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IITC requests favorable consideration of parole for Leonard Peltier
Respectful Greetings,
The International Indian Treaty Council (IITC), an Indigenous Peoples organization in General Consultative Status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, joins with human rights organizations, Tribal Nations, Tribal organizations, including the National Congress of American Indians, and United Nations human rights experts to request your favorable consideration of parole for Mr. Leonard Peltier. Mr. Peltier is Anishinaabe, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, and has been in prison for more than 48 years.
The IITC is extremely concerned with Mr. Peltier’s failing health. Mr. Peltier is almost 80 years old and has several compounding health conditions, including kidney disease, diabetes, near-total blindness, and an untreated aortic aneurysm. He requires a wheelchair.
The IITC affirms the widely held view that Mr. Peltier’s conviction was an egregious miscarriage of justice and, among other things, a violation of his due process rights. He was sentenced in 1977 to two consecutive life terms in connection with the June 26, 1975, shooting and deaths of two agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on the Pine Ridge Reservation, SD, after a trial which has been widely criticized as a blatant miscarriage of due process.
We are certain that had he gone to trial with his co-defendants, who were acquitted on grounds of self-defense; been allowed to present all of the evidence in his defense, including instances of FBI intimidation of witnesses and suborned perjury; and been critical ballistics evidence reflecting his innocence not been withheld from defense counsel and the jury, Leonard Peltier would not have been convicted.
As a signatory to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), the United States of America must undertake to prohibit and eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, including Indigenous Peoples, to equality before the law. Prohibitions against discrimination are also contained in the United Nations (UN) Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
In paragraph 91 of the report on his official country visit to the United States issued on August 30, 2012, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Professor James Anaya, made a similar recommendation:
Other measures of reconciliation should include efforts to
identify and heal particular sources of open wounds. And
hence, for example, promised reparations should be provided
to the descendants of the Sands Creek massacre, and new or
renewed consideration should be given to clemency for
Leonard Peltier.
Leonard Peltier is now 79 years old and a great-grandfather. He has fulfilled his federal sentencing guideline requirements but has been repeatedly denied parole. We have seen the commitment the Biden Administration has shown to Indian Country and Indigenous Peoples. We need to see that same commitment to repair the relationship between the U.S. and Indigenous Peoples of this land in Mr. Peltier’s case.
The time remaining to grant parole for Leonard Peltier is dwindling. He deserves to spend his remaining days peacefully with his family with full access to required medical care. He is not a threat to anyone.
We thank you for your consideration of our request to grant parole for Mr. Peltier.
Ron Lameman,
President International Indian Treaty Council
Andrea Carmen,
Executive Director International Indian Treaty Council
Working for the Rights and Recognition of Indigenous Peoples
Trabajando por los Derechos y el Reconocimiento de los Pueblos Indígenas