Leonard Peltier leaves prison after Biden commanded his sentence in the murder of two FBI agents

Sumterville, Florida (AP) – Amerindian activist Leonard Peltier was Released from a Florida prison Tuesday, weeks after the president of the time, Joe Biden, angry the officials of the application of the laws by painting the sentence to perpetuity in the 1975 murders of two FBI agents.

For almost half a century, the imprisonment of Peltier symbolized systemic injustice For Amerindians across the country who believe in its innocence. The decision to disclose the 80 -year -old at home was celebrated by supporters.

“He represents each person who has been blurred by a cop, profiled, harassed his children in school,” said Nick Estes, professor of American Indian studies at the University of Minnesota and member of the Lower Brule tribe Sioux who pleaded for exit from Peltier.

But the move just before Biden who left the office, also aroused criticism from those who say that Peltier is guilty, including Former FBI director Christopher WrayWho called him “a killer without remors” in a private letter to Biden obtained by the Associated Press.

“Giving Peltier any compensation for his conviction or his sentence is entirely unjustified and would be an affront to the rule of law,” wrote Wray.

Switching was not forgive for the crimes committed, which the defenders of Peltier has hoped since he always maintained his innocence.

Peltier left prison on Tuesday morning in a SUV, according to a prison manager. He did not stop to speak with journalists or his supporters outside the doors.

One of his lawyers, Jenipher Jones, said Peltier was looking forward to going home.

“We are so excited for this moment,” said Jones. “He’s in a good mood. He has the soul of a warrior.

After being released from USP Coleman, a high security prison, Peltier planned to return to the Northern Dakota, where he should celebrate Wednesday with his friends and family.

Biden commissioned the condemnation of Peltier on January 20, noting that he had spent most of his life in prison and was now in poor health.

“We never thought he would come out,” Ray St. Clair, a member of the white earth band of the Minnesota Chippewa tribe, said shortly before the exit of Peltier. “It shows that you should never lose hope. We can take this repair of the damage that has been caused. It’s a start. “”

Peltier, a registered member of the Turtle Mountain band of Chippewa Indians in Northern Dakota, was active in the American Indian movement, which, from the 1960s, fought for the rights of Native American treaties and tribal self -determination.

The group Treat titles In 1969, when activists occupied the former Alcatraz prison island in San Francisco bay, and again in 1972, when they presented the presidential candidates a list of requests, including the restoration of land tribal. After being ignored, they seized the headquarters of the Indian Affairs Bureau.

From that moment, the group was the subject of FBI monitoring and harassment as part of a secret program that sought to disrupt activism and was exhibited in 1975.

Peltier’s conviction came from a confrontation that year on the Indian reserve of Oglala Sioux to Pine Ridge, Southern Dakota, in which FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams were killed. According to the FBI, the agents were there to serve arrest mandates for qualified flight and assault with a dangerous weapon.

The prosecutors supported the trial that Peltier drew on the two agents in the head at close range. Peltier admitted to be present and shoot a weapon at a distance, but he said that he had shot self -defense. A woman who claimed to have seen Peltier shooting the agents then retracted his testimony, saying that he had been forced.

He was found guilty of two first degree murder leaders and was sentenced to two consecutive perpetuity penalties.

Two other members of the movement, the co-accused Robert Robideau and Dino Butler, were acquitted for self-defense.

Peltier was denied parole as recently as July And was not eligible to be considered again for this until 2026.

“The liberation of Leonard Peltier is the right thing to do given the serious and in progress concerns about human rights concerning the equity of his trial, his almost 50 years behind bars, his health and his age” said Paul O’Brien, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, said in a statement before the release of Peltier. “Although we greet his prison release, he should not be limited to home imprisonment.”

Amerindian groups such as the National Congress of American Indians called for the release of Peltier for decades, and Amnesty International considered him a political prisoner. Over the years, supporters of the eminence included the South African archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Coretta Scott King Civil Rights icon, the actor and director Robert Redford and the musicians Pete Seeger, Harry Belafonte and Jackson Browne.

Generations of Aboriginal activists and managers have pressure on several presidents to forgive Peltier. Former interior secretary Deb Haaland, member of the Pueblo de Laguna and the first Amerindian to occupy the post of secretary, welcomed Biden’s decision.

“I am grateful that Leonard can now go home to his family,” she said on January 20 in an article on X. “I applaud the president Biden for this action and understand what it means for the country Indian.”

Child, Peltier was taken from his family and sent to a boarding school. Thousands of indigenous children for decades have been faced with the same fate and have been in many cases subject to Systemic physical, psychological, psychological and sexual abuse.

“He has not really had a house since he was taken to the boarding school,” said Nick Tilsen, who pleaded for the release of Peltier since he was a teenager and is CEO of NDN Collective, a group of Advocacy led by natives based in southern Dakota. “He is therefore delighted to be at home and paint and have grandchildren.”

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Brewer reported to Norman, Oklahoma.