January 21 2025. Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa supports the pardon of Lenard Peltier reports the Associated Press.
Activist Leonard Peltier will return home in February after he was imprisoned for the 1975 killings of two FBI agents.
President Joe Biden commuted Peltier’s sentence Monday following decades of community-led advocacy calling his imprisonment an example of the U.S. government’s mistreatment of Native Americans.
The White House said Peltier, an Elder of the Turtle Mountain Band is now 80 and of declining health, will transition to home confinement. The commutation is not a pardon for crimes committed, a decision some of Peltier’s advocates welcomed since he has always maintained his innocence.
The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) celebrated the historic decision to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier, an elder of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, federal boarding school survivor, and one of the longest incarcerated Native American political prisoners. While this decision does not exonerate Leonard Peltier for the crimes of which he was unjustly convicted, nor does it erase the decades of suffering and profound injustice he endured, it offers him the opportunity to return to his ancestral homelands and spend his remaining years with his loved ones – a long-overdue step towards justice that will allow collective healing for Leonard Peltier and the broader community.
Upon learning about President Biden’s historic action, NCAI President Mark Macarro stated, “After nearly 50 years of unjust imprisonment, President Biden’s decision to grant Leonard Peltier the opportunity to return home is a powerful act of compassion and an important step toward healing.”