|
|
login
set preferences and edit your own posts
announce events
add to the radicalendar
info library
how to use this site
contact info
mailing lists
meetings
mission statement
supporting the imc
|
|
www.indymedia.org
africa
ambazonia
nigeria
south africa
canada
alberta
hamilton
maritimes
montreal
ontario
ottawa
quebec
thunder bay
vancouver
victoria
windsor
europe
athens
austria
barcelona
belgium
bristol
cyprus
euskal herria
finland
germany
ireland
italy
madrid
netherlands
nice
norway
poland
portugal
prague
russia
sweden
switzerland
thessaloniki
united kingdom
latin america
argentina
bolivia
brasil
chiapas
chile
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
qollasuyu
rosario
tijuana
uruguay
pacific
adelaide
aotearoa
brisbane
jakarta
melbourne
sydney
south asia
india
mumbai
united states
arizona
atlanta
austin
baltimore
boston
buffalo
central florida
chicago
danbury, ct
dc
eugene
hawaii
houston
idaho
ithaca
la
madison
maine
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new jersey
new mexico
north carolina
ny capital
nyc
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rocky mountain
san diego
san francisco bay area
santa cruz, ca
seattle
st louis
tallahassee-red hills
urbana-champaign
utah
vermont
western mass
west asia
israel
palestine
[process]
discussion
fbi/legal updates
indymedia faq
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech
volunteer
[projects]
climate
print
radio
satellite tv
video
|
|
This site made manifest by
dadaIMC software
|
|
|
|
Add a new Article |
Comment on this article |
Email this Article |
Printable version |
|
|
Announcement: Prisons |
Peltier attorney urges Congress to investigate official misconduct
by Barry Bachrach
Email: bbachrach (at) bowditch.com (unverified!)
Phone: 785/842-5774
Address: Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, PO Box 583, Lawrence, KS 66044-0583 |
Current rating: 3
30 Mar 2004 |
"After 28 years, the courts still won't correct the wrongs of the past.
In
November 2003, the United States Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals
acknowledged
that '…Much of the government's behavior at the Pine Ridge Reservation
and
in its prosecution of Mr. Peltier is to be condemned. The government
withheld evidence. It intimidated witnesses. These facts are not
disputed.' Yet, the court claimed it lacked power to address this
issue.
We believe that a congressional inquiry on the misconduct in this case
is
long overdue," said Barry Bachrach, lead counsel for American Indian
activist Leonard Peltier. |
March 29, 2004
Media Advisory
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Barry Bachrach, Esquire; Bowditch & Dewey, 311 Main Street,
Worcester, MA 01615; (508) 926-3403 or bbachrach (at) bowditch.com
Peltier attorney urges Congress to investigate official misconduct
"After 28 years, the courts still won't correct the wrongs of the past.
In
November 2003, the United States Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals
acknowledged
that '…Much of the government's behavior at the Pine Ridge Reservation
and
in its prosecution of Mr. Peltier is to be condemned. The government
withheld evidence. It intimidated witnesses. These facts are not
disputed.' Yet, the court claimed it lacked power to address this
issue.
We believe that a congressional inquiry on the misconduct in this case
is
long overdue," said Barry Bachrach, lead counsel for American Indian
activist Leonard Peltier.
Bachrach and other members of Peltier's legal team this week submitted
a
formal request to the U.S. Congress for an investigation into the
Justice
Department's actions against Peltier and the American Indian Movement
(AIM)
during the 1970s. The strife between the government and AIM culminated
in
the June 26, 1975, shooting deaths of two agents of the Federal Bureau
of
Investigation (FBI). Peltier, who still maintains his innocence, was
convicted of the killings and sentenced to two consecutive life terms.
He
is currently imprisoned at the U.S. penitentiary at Leavenworth,
Kansas.
Human rights organizations worldwide have long called for hearings into
the
use of the criminal justice system by the FBI for political purposes.
Amnesty International, convinced that Peltier has repeatedly been
denied a
fair trial and other fair consideration for either parole or Executive
Clemency, has called for his immediate release on the grounds that he
no
longer has adequate recourse to justice.
"Despite repeated calls for congressional hearings by the U.S. Civil
Rights
Commission, Amnesty International and individual members of Congress,
no
congressional committee has yet had the courage to investigate the
FBI's
counterintelligence activities against AIM or the misconduct in the
Peltier
case. We believe Indians must be heard on these matters. All
Americans
have the right to know the truth about what occurred during that
turbulent
era."
The request to Congress calls on legislators to fully investigate the
FBI's
role in the politically motivated violence on the Pine Ridge Indian
reservation in South Dakota from 1973 to 1976, and the now documented
official misconduct against members of AIM during that period. In the
case
of Peltier, the FBI's own documents show that the government illegally
obtained his extradition from Canada; as well as withheld critical
evidence,
presented fabricated evidence, and intimidated witnesses into providing
false testimony at trial.
"We challenge Congress to finish the work the Church Committee began
nearly
30 years ago. Uncover the COINTELPRO tactics employed against AIM.
They
are not any less egregious than the tactics used against other
activists of
the time - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., for example."
As discovered by the Church Committee and reported in 1976, the goals
of the
COunter INTELligence PROgrams of the period from 1956 to the mid-1970s
were
to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize"
those
persons or organizations that the FBI decided were "enemies of the
State."
Presidential candidate and military veteran John Kerry was even placed
under
surveillance for exercising his free speech rights in opposition to the
Vietnam War. The FBI's COINTELPRO activities officially ended in 1971,
but
there have been examples of counterintelligence-type operations against
political dissidents since.
On May 30, 2002, Attorney General Ashcroft effectively abolished the
restrictions that were first imposed in 1976 on FBI surveillance of
Americans' everyday lives. These regulations, a direct result of the
Church
Committee's inquiries, were specifically developed to counter the
COINTELPRO
domestic spying program that had led to massive civil rights era abuses
during the 1960s and 1970s.
"COINTELPRO abuses are not a thing of the past. To understand the
present,
we have to examine the past," Bachrach said.
"Such government misconduct against our citizens cannot be tolerated,
not by
a society purporting to be founded on the principles of justice and
freedom.
We trust that this inquiry will again lead to congressional oversight
of FBI
domestic security investigations, as well as legislation designed to
better
protect Americans' fundamental rights."
Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, PO Box 583, Lawrence, KS 66044-0583
Telephone: 785/842-5774; 785/842-5796 (Fax); E-mail:
info (at) leonardpeltier.org |
See also:
http://www.leonardpeltier.org
|
|
|
|
