Leger Fernández, Stansbury Join Call for Clemency for Indigenous Activist Leonard Peltier
Stansbury and Leger Fernández joined nine members of Congress in a letter requesting President Biden and Attorney General Garland to grant clemency to 77-year-old Peltier.
WASHINGTON – U.S. Representatives Teresa Leger Fernández (N.M.-03), and Melanie Stansbury (N.M.-01), respectively chair and member of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States, sent a letter with nine other House lawmakers to President Biden and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland requesting the expedited release of and clemency for renowned American Indian Movement activist Leonard Peltier.
Mr. Peltier, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, was arrested in connection with the murders of two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in 1977 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Following a trial that was riddled with evidentiary and procedural concerns, Mr. Peltier was sentenced to two life sentences.
As the lawmakers noted in the letter, “Mr. Peltier has yet to receive a fair trial that is free from constitutional violations. Mr. Peltier is 77 years old and suffers from severe health conditions, including diabetes and an abdominal aortic aneurysm that can be lethal if ruptured. He has served more than 43 years in the federal prison system, some of which have been in solitary confinement. The support for Mr. Peltier’s request for clemency is both widespread and strong. A petition for his release contained over 275,000 signatures and in 2021, former U.S. Attorney James H. Reynolds—whose office handled the criminal prosecution and subsequent appeal of Mr. Peltier— joined this movement by requesting Mr. Peltier’s clemency to President Biden.”
The lawmakers concluded by noting, “Given the combination of this overwhelming support, the constitutional issues underlying Mr. Peltier’s prosecution, and his status as an elderly inmate with severe underlying health conditions, we believe it is highly appropriate that BOP prioritizes the expedited release of Mr. Peltier. We therefore request that Mr. Leonard Peltier receive an expedited release and be granted clemency.”
As an Indigenous rights activist, Mr. Peltier worked to draw attention to systemic issues facing American Indian and Alaska Native communities during the 1970s, including federal treaty rights violations, discrimination, and police brutality.
Individuals and groups who have called for Mr. Peltier’s release include Amnesty International, the National Congress of American Indians, the late Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mikhail Gorbachev, Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Parliament, the Belgian Parliament, the Italian Parliament, the Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rigoberta Menchú, seven other Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, Rage Against the Machine, Pete Seeger, Carlos Santana, Harry Belafonte, Gloria Steinem, and Robert Redford.
The full text of the letter can be found here.
The full list of signatories includes:
- Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.)
- Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.)
- Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.)
- Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.)
- Rep. Jesús G. "Chuy" García (D-Ill.)
- Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.)
- Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-Mo.)
- Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.)
- Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.)
- Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)
- Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.)