Free Peltier!
Leonard Peltier Committee Takes Their Message to Washington

Levi Rickert, editor-in-chief in Native Challenges. Discussion »

WASHINGTON - With the tribal leaders and several Obama administration officials meeting inside the US Department of Interior for the White House Tribal Nations Conference last Friday, members of the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee held a vigil outside.

"President Obama arrived at 2:20 and was out of there by 2:45. He may have seen our banners - hard to tell as he had his window rolled up."

The Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee set up in Bolivar Park, across the street from the US Department of Interior, on Friday where the White House Tribal Nations Conference will be held. The vigil was called "Wall of Support: Stand Up/Stand Out for Leonard Peltier."

"A good day of outreach at the Tribal Nations Conference .we were able to hand out over 250 copies of NCAI resolution for clemency for Leonard and Free Peltier pins to Tribal leaders and attendees. Good feedback from many… those who attended last two years were happy to see us again," writes Peter Clark on the Lpdoc Chapter Albuquerque Facebook wall.

The Committee is asking President Obama to grant clemency for Peltier, who is serving a life sentence in the US Penitentiary in Coleman, Florida. He was convicted of the 1975 murders of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation. He was convicted in 1977.

President Obama has the authority to grant clemency at any time he chooses and he is not required to follow suggestions or the process of the Office of the Pardon Attorney.

photo credit Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee, Albubuerque Chapter
posted December 5, 2011 10:50 am est