Native American activist imprisoned for nearly half a century makes push for clemency
Leonard Peltier, the Native American activist who has been imprisoned for nearly half a century for the murders of two FBI agents he has always maintained he didn't commit, is hopeful he'll have a chance to clear his name before he dies.
Peltier, 77, wants President Joe Biden to review his case and grant him clemency so he won't die in prison.
He's not looking for a presidential pardon, because it would be granted for a crime he insists he is innocent of.
Instead, he wants a new trial.
“If I get into court, if the judge is fair, how are they going to answer all of that?” he said of evidence that was withheld from the 1977 proceedings. “I want to get a trial."
Recent calls from Peltier's supporters and family for him to be released have noted his failing health, including a recent bout of Covid-19.
"They're going to try and make me die here," Peltier said by phone Wednesday from his federal prison in Central Florida, his first media interview since 2016. "I have a last few years, and I got to fight."
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/leonard-peltier-imprisoned-native-american-activist-new-message-biden-rcna19731
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Leonard Peltier is a political prisoner, IMNSHO
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Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote that "the degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons."
