Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, at centre of controversial murder conviction, gets parole hearing – CBC

Jun 10, 2024

At 79, it could be Peltier’s last chance to be freed through parole since his conviction in the 1975 killings

Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, who has spent most of his life in prison since his conviction in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents in South Dakota, has a parole hearing Monday at a federal prison in Florida.

At 79, Peltier’s health is failing, and if this parole request is denied, it might be a decade or more before it is considered again, said his attorney Kevin Sharp, a former federal judge. Sharp and other supporters have long argued that Peltier was wrongly convicted.

“This whole entire hearing is a battle for his life,” said Nick Tilsen, president and CEO of the NDN Collective, an Indigenous-led advocacy group. “It’s time for him to come home.”

Peltier’s last parole hearing was in 2009. His fight for freedom has been championed by public figures and artists such as Robert Redford — who narrated Michael Apted’s 1992 documentary, Incident at Oglala — Bishop Desmond Tutu, Rage Against the Machine, U2 and Robbie Robertson, who featured voice recordings made by Peltier in prison on his 1998 album, Contact from the Underworld of Redboy.

Read More: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/peltier-parole-hearing-1.7230108