Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier released from prison: ‘finally free’

The Native American activist Leonard Peltier – convicted in 1975 for the killings of two FBI agents – was released from federal prison on Tuesday after Joe Biden commuted his sentence at the end of his presidency in January.

In a statement, Peltier said that he was “finally free!”

“They may have imprisoned me but they never took my spirit!” he added. “Thank you to all my supporters throughout the world who fought for my freedom.

“I am finally going home. I look forward to seeing my friends, my family, and my community. It’s a good day today.”

Peltier had maintained his innocence since his conviction before Biden ordered Peltier – now 80 and in poor health – to transition to home confinement after spending nearly 49 years federally imprisoned.

“This commutation will enable Mr Peltier to spend his remaining days in home confinement but will not pardon him for his underlying crimes,” Biden said at the time.

The National Congress of American Indians celebrated the commutation, calling it “historic” and adding that the case “has long symbolized the systemic injustices faced by Indigenous Peoples”.

Peltier’s imprisonment resulted from a 1975 shootout that occurred on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation between two FBI agents – who had entered the private property to serve arrest warrants – and members of the American Indian movement (AIM), a cold war-era liberation group that sought to address police brutality and discrimination against Native Americans.

The group of Native American men who traded gunfire with the FBI agents included Peltier. The shootout resulted in the deaths of both agents, Jack Coler and Ronald Williams, who were shot in the head. Joseph Stuntz, a Native American, was killed, too.

Peltier, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota and an active member in the AIM, was one of several individuals indicted in connection with the agents’ killings.

He was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and given two consecutive life sentences.

Two other movement members were acquitted on self-defense grounds.

Peltier has consistently claimed that he did not shoot the agents. His supporters have long argued that prosecutors withheld critical evidence that could have supported his defense while also fabricating affidavits against him.

Prosecutors argued during trial that Peltier shot both agents in the head at point-blank range. Peltier admitted to being present and firing a gun at a distance, but he claimed that it was in self-defense.

A witness who initially testified to have seen Peltier shoot the agents later recanted her testimony, saying her initial statements were coerced.

For decades, advocates such as Nelson Mandela, Pope Francis and James H Reynolds, the US attorney who handled the prosecution and appeal of Peltier’s case, have fought for his release.

In recent years, Reynolds has written to various presidents, asking them to grant Peltier clemency and calling his prosecution “unjust”.

In a letter to Biden in 2021, Reynolds stated that Peltier’s continued incarceration reflected a flawed justice system.

Peltier’s “conviction and continued incarceration is a testament to a time and a system of justice that no longer has a place in our society”, he wrote.

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

Biden commuted Peltier’s sentence despite objections from the former FBI director Christopher Wray. Wray had called Peltier “a remorseless killer” in a letter to Biden, which was obtained by the Associated Press and urged the president to not give him clemency.

Wray argued that granting Peltier “any relief from his conviction or sentence” would be “wholly unjustified” and “would be an affront to the rule of law”.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.