The serious nature of the offense: the ongoing kidnapping of Leonard Peltier

The serious nature of the offense: the ongoing kidnapping of Leonard Peltier

by Carolina Salda?a
Tuesday Aug 25th, 2009 9:47 PM
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/08/25/18619417.php

The United States Parole Board denies Native
American political prisoner Leonard Peltier the
right to spend the last years of his life in freedom.

In violation of the law, ethical standards, and
human rights norms, and in the tradition of
genocide against the original peoples of the
Americas, the United States Parole Board has
denied Native American political prisoner Leonard
Peltier the right to spend the last years of his
life in freedom. The Board?s shameful decision
was announced by federal prosecutor Drew Wrigley
on August 21. There won?t be another review of
his case until 2024, when Leonard is 79 years old.

As a member of the American Indian Movement
(AIM), Leonard Peltier was unjustly sentenced to
two life sentences for the deaths of two FBI
agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in the
Lakota nation (state of South Dakota) on June 26,
1975. ?How long has this kidnapping gone on? 72
hours? A week? Several months? No. It?s been in progress for 33 ? years!

The Parole Board?s pretexts?
--that his release would diminish the serious nature of the offense
--that his release would promote disrespect for the law
--that he hasn?t expressed remorse
--that he?s had several write-ups in prison, including an escape attempt.

Like a parrot, the Associated Press reporter
repeats FBI lies spread by Wrigley: "Leonard
Peltier is an unrepentant, cold-blooded murderer
who executed FBI special agents Williams and
Coler, and in doing that he tore them from their
families and from their communities forever,"
Wrigley said. "Leonard Peltier is exactly where
he belongs ? federal prison, serving two life
sentences.?
<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-peltier-parole,0,1411297.story>http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-peltier-parole,0,1411297.story


The following statement was made by Leonard?s
Defense Offense Committee on August 22:
?The Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
acknowledges the receipt of the decision of the
United States Parole Commission to deny parole
for American Indian Political Prisoner Leonard
Peltier. We wish to thank our thousands of
supporters for their tenacious efforts, in
particular during the months leading to Leonard's
recent hearing. Currently we are in the process
of finalizing plans for efforts around exercising
our right to challenge this decision, advocate
for intervention by President Obama, and
succeeding in getting both proper medical
attention for Leonard and a transfer to a federal
prison closer to home. We will be issuing
directives within the near future.?
<http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/index1.htm>http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/index1.htm.


Amnesty Internacional expressed its
disappointment over the Board?s decision and
called for the immediate release of Leonard
Peltier.
<http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/usa-denial-parole-leonard-peltier-after-more-32-years-prison-disappoint>http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/usa-denial-parole-leonard-peltier-after-more-32-years-prison-disappoint


Leonard Peltier is widely recognized as a
spiritual warrior who struggles for his people In
his autobiographical prison writings, My Life is
My Sundance he writes: ?I?ve often wondered what
the FBI boys got out of all this, except the
hatred of Native Americans and the disrespect of
their own people. And what must they think of
themselves, those who partook of all these
manipulations and fabrications, when they look at
their face in the mirror each morning? They must
shudder at the sight of themselves, avert their
eyes from their own gaze in the mirror. So they
have to live the lie they created in order to
maintain an aura of pride and self-respect. Or
perhaps their arrogance builds an impregnable wall of delusion.? (p. 119).

Kidnapping is a serious crime and it is
aggravated every day, every week, every year. The
FBI, prosecuting attorneys, judges, jailers, and
Parole Board members all know Leonard Peltier was
condemned on fabricated evidence. His brothers
Dino Butler and Bob Robideau, also charged with
the same killings, were acquitted on grounds of
self-defense, justifiable in the reign of terror
existing on the Pine Ridge Reservation following
AIM?s daring occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973.
One of them has said he fired the bullets that killed the agents.

<http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/PELTIER_ATTORNEY_RESPONSE_TO_PAROLE_DENIAL.1.htm>http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/PELTIER_ATTORNEY_RESPONSE_TO_PAROLE_DENIAL.1.htm


The Board?s pretexts are the same ones used in many cases:

The serious nature of the offense? In the
campaign to gain the release of the MOVE 9,
Ramona Africa said: ?Historically, with political
prisoners especially, parole boards have just
basically thumbed their nose at their own laws to
keep prisoners in prison. They?ve said things
like ?the serious nature of the offense? as an
excuse to deny prisoners parole, especially
political prisoners. And that is absolutely
illegal. It makes no sense at all. Because when a
judge sentences a person..., he?s already taken
into account the ?serious nature of the offense?.
That?s what the judge is sentencing them on?the
offense they were convicted of. So to come back
later and say we?re not releasing you...because
of the serious nature of the offense is
completely illegal because that was already taken
into account. And what it amounts to is
re-sentencing a person.?
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KceYmm5nL_E&feature=PlayList&p=BFEA44728354F2CF&index=2>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KceYmm5nL_E&feature=PlayList&p=BFEA44728354F2CF&index=2


Promote disrespect for the law? Leonard has
something to say about the United States
government?s respect for the law in its war
against AIM: ?They hid behind their usual cloak
of ?national security? do their dirty work. Their
first tactic: Forget the law, the law?s for
suckers, subvert the law at will to get your man,
however innocent he may be...; lie whenever and
wherever you have to to keep the focus of inquiry
on your victims, not on your own crimes. I have
to admit, they succeeded brilliantly. In the name
of the Law, they violated every law on the books,
and in their deliberate strategy of putting
me??and how many other innocents???away in a cell
or a grave, they turned the Constitution of the
United States into pulp fiction. (My Life is my Sun Dance, p. 95-6)

Express remorse? As a matter of fact, Leonard has
said that he regrets the deaths of the agents,
but he has no remorse for having defending his
people under attack at the Jumping Bull ranch,
and he refuses to accept responsibility for
something he didn?t do, executing the two agents.

Infractions of the rules? The Board knows that
this man who is respected by hundreds of
thousands of people in the world has not had a
single infraction in the last ten years and that
his record of promoting peace in the world is so
distinguished that he has received six nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize.

An escape attempt? Nobody remembers the
circumstances better than the FBI itself. Leonard
relates that Standing Deer (El Venado) was
recruited to kill him in prison, but was
courageous enough to warn him. Leonard then fled
because he believed his life was in danger. In
retrospect, he thinks that this was all part of a
plot by the federal agents to kill him while he
was trying to escape. Now he must live ?forever
stricken? with his grief for the deaths of the
prisoners who died due to the attempt: Dallas
Thundershield, shot in the back during the
escape; Bobby Garc?a, said to have hanged himself
in his cell; and Standing Deer, ?dumped back into
an iron hole? (Mi Vida es mi Danza al Sol, p?g.
164-167) only to be executed after he served his sentence.

The serious nature of the offense. The serious nature of countless offenses.