With Tony Gonzales of the American Indian Movement West For the first time in 15 years, Leonard Peltier had a full parole hearing on Monday, June 10, at the United States Penitentiary at Coleman, Fla. The decision whether he will be free will be rendered by mid July 2024.
Peltier is Turtle Mountain Ojibwe. He has been incarcerated for 48 years for the alleged killing of two FBI agents at Oglala on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in June 1975. For five decades, Peltier has maintained his innocence and hoped for the chance to clear his name.
Peltier had a controversial trial marred by falsified testimony, and fabricated evidence. And criticism of the trial even came from judges involved in the case: In 2017, former U.S. Attorney James Reynolds wrote a letter to President Obama to support clemency for Peltier. Reynolds was the federal prosecutor involved in the legal proceedings against Peltier.
Tony Gonzales was one of the organizers of the prayer vigil for Leonard Peltier held in San Francisco on June 10. He founded AIM West – the American Indian Movement West, in 2007. In 1982 Tony Gonzales begun working with the International Indian Treaty Council, the first Indigenous NGO in the United Nations, and eventually became the UN Liaison.
DATE: June 10/2024
CREDIT: Tony Gonzales, AIM West
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