Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 22, 1995 TAG: 9507180105
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID CRARY ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: PARIS LENGTH: Medium
To the FBI, he is a cold-blooded killer, rightly locked away for life. To thousands of human rights activists across Europe, Leonard Peltier is America's Nelson Mandela, a victim of a great democracy's racist underside.
A new international campaign to gain a pardon for Peltier is unfolding on the 20th anniversary of the South Dakota shootout that led the Sioux militant to jail.
Support groups in France, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and elsewhere are lobbying local and U.S. elected officials, planning a trek across Western Europe, and trying to organize a mission to South Africa to enlist the backing of Mandela himself, the political-prisoner-turned-president.
``The entire world knows that Leonard Peltier isn't guilty,'' said Caroline Grenot, of the Paris-based Support Committee for American Indians.
In fact, the case is not that clear. Even Amnesty International - the London-based human rights group that for years has questioned the fairness of Peltier's trial - stops short of proclaiming his innocence. But Amnesty, like other groups, sees Peltier's case as symbolic.
``There is a widespread perception in Europe, because of the whole history of events, that Indians get a raw deal in the U.S. criminal justice system,'' said Angela Wright, an Amnesty staff member who has worked on the Peltier dossier.
Although Peltier has become a cause celebre in Europe, his case has not generated nearly the same attention - or outrage - in the United States.
The case dates back to June 26, 1975, when a shootout erupted at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota between law enforcement agents and activists of the American Indian Movement.
Peltier was one of four Indians accused in the killings of FBI agents Ronald Williams and Jack Coler.
Two of the suspects were acquitted in 1976, and the third was freed for lack of evidence. But Peltier was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in 1977 despite vigorous defense arguments that evidence against him had been falsified. Efforts to reopen the case have been ongoing, including a motion in May that was denied.
In Europe, doubts about Peltier's guilt have evolved into certainty that he should be pardoned. The European Parliament voted 202-24 in December for a resolution urging President Clinton to grant clemency.
In France, more than 300 city and town councils have adopted resolutions supporting Peltier. And 38 members of Parliament have requested, thus far without success, that their government take an official position on the case.
The latest campaign kicked off Wednesday in Paris with a symposium featuring Apache activist Bobby Castillo, Peltier's international spokesman, and a screening of Michael Apted's 1992 film about the case, ``Incident at Oglala.''
An international day of support for Peltier is planned July 27 in Geneva, Switzerland. A march through Europe is planned for next year.
At the U.S. Embassy in Paris, appeals on behalf of Peltier arrive steadily but not in huge quantities, said spokeswoman Lela Margiou.
Over the years, Amnesty International has regularly raised questions about the fairness of numerous trials of black and American Indian activists in the United States.
But Wright said Peltier's case was distinctive because of the severity of his sentence and the long-lasting campaign to free him.
Amnesty has conveyed to the U.S. government its concerns about the case, including questions about ballistics reports. Amnesty also contends that Peltier was extradited from Canada on the basis of affidavits from a purported witness to the murders which the FBI later admitted it knew were false.
``For a long time, the only response we had was, `The matter is before the courts,''' Wright said. ``American officials take the view that any injustices will be rectified through the legal process. But that isn't always the case, and we believe it should be looked into by executive authorities.''
But Wright said Amnesty had not formally adopted Peltier as a ``prisoner of conscience'' and was not in a position to assert categorically that he is innocent.
Peltier has diehard supporters in the United States as well as Europe. Last year, 21 Indian leaders walked from California to Washington, D.C., to hand Congress a document demanding clemency for Peltier.
FBI Director Louis Freeh said Peltier's guilt ``has been firmly established.''
``Leonard Peltier was convicted of grave crimes - two counts of first-degree murder in the execution-style slayings of two wounded, helpless FBI special agents,'' Freeh said. ``There should be no commutation of his two consecutive terms of life in prison.''
by CNB