Statement in Support of Leonard Peltier’s Release Read at UN

Lenny Foster adn Perter Clark stand behind Janene Yazzie at the United Nations spoke on behalf of Leonard Peltier.

Published April 26, 2019

NEW YORK — On Wednesday, Janene Yazzie (Diné) made an interevention statement for Lenny Foster and Peter Clark on behalf of Leonard Peltier during the 18th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII18).

“Every year we remind the forum that Leonard Peltier, Anishinaabe and Dakota, and an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, has been in federal prison since 1976, although he was wrongly convicted for teh deaths of two FBI agents. Last year, the US representatives wrongly asserted that the conviction was for murder, obscuring the complexities of Leonard’s charge of aiding and abetting, showing the lack of concern for understanding and remedying this great injustice,” reads the statement. “Leonard Peltier is 74-years-old and suffers from several multiple serious health conditions. He should be granted parole, executive clemency or compassionate release immediately so that he may spend his remaining years with this family.”

Standing behind Yazzie was Lenny Foster, spiritual advisor to Peltier, and Peter Clark, a longtime organizer who has worked for Peltier’s release.

“The case of Leonard Peltier demonstrates the failure of the U.S. criminal justice system to provide real justice for Native Peoples as well as the government-generated environment of racism that consistently leads to unjust convictions,” the statement reads further.

The statement concludes by an invitation for members of the United Nations to visit Peltier at the The United States Penitentiary, Coleman I in Florida.

 

 

 

 

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