Leonard Peltier is a warrior for his people who hopes to be united with his children and grandchildren, an artist and writer with dreams of teaching oil painting, raising buffalo, and continuing to help Indian people. He is also the 2004 Presidential candidate of the Peace and Freedom Party in California. He is seeking a presidential pardon-- Some will recall that Peltier has been serving a double-life sentence in federal prison since his conviction in 1976 for the murders of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in June of 1975.

A Chippewa/Lakota activist with the American Indian Movement, Peltier is one of many political prisoners still doing time as a result of the U.S. government's notorious Counter Intelligence Program of the 1960s and 1970s that spied on and disrupted the Black Panther Party, AIM, and other groups that were fighting for justice. While some who were wrongfully convicted as a result of official misconduct, like Black Panther Geronimo Pratt ji Jaga, have been released after decades of legal lobbying by supporters, Peltier remains locked up in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary as one of America's longest-held political prisoners. Peltier's conviction was upheld in three different appeals, including a 1986 decision in which the U.S. government admitted that it "(does) not know who killed the agents." Prosecutors in essence changed their theory that Peltier was the shooter, stating that he was guilty of "aiding and abetting," and he has remained in prison. He turned 60 years old on September 12, 2004. On November 4, 2004, ANSWER will screen the film Incident at Oglala", which tells the story of the incident that led to Peltier's arrest.
More info about Peltier's Clemency and Presidential Campaigns | More information about Peltier's case | 2004 Denial of Appeal | Congress Urged to Investigate Misconduct | Information about the Peace and Freedom Party | Peltier's Book | 1973 Siege at Wounded Knee | Prison Activist Resource Center Political Prisoner/POW info