Around 60 protesters assembled to demand the release of indigenous political prisoner Leonard Peltier at the Coleman Federal Correctional Institute, an hour’s drive north of Tampa. Peltier, now 77 years old, has been infected with COVID-19 for more than a week and has been denied parole and release.
Leonard Peltier was an activist for the American Indian Movement, who has been incarcerated for over 44 years in what is internationally considered one of the most corrupt trials in American history. Peltier was accused of shooting and killing 2 FBI agents at point-blank range, but a prosecutor conceded that the government does not know who shot the agents.
Regardless, it was asserted that he is equally guilty whether he shot the agents at point-blank range, or participated in the shoot-out from a distance. Peltier’s co-defendants participated in the shootout from a distance but were nonetheless acquitted.
An FBI ballistics expert testified that a casing found near the agents’ bodies matched the gun tied to Peltier. A previous ballistic test proving that the casing had not come from Peltier’s gun, however, was intentionally concealed.
One of the prosecutors in the case later admitted that the trial was a sham, calling for the release of Peltier. The AIM activist’s incarceration continues in spite of ever-growing evidence suggesting he was framed.
Photos via PSL Tampa Bay
