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<font size=3>From: Paulette Dauteuil
<albq.jericho@gmail.com><br><br>
<br>
Greetings<br>
This is a statement that will be submited by David Hill to the Human
Rights Council at the University of NM Law School:<br><br>
United Nations Human Rights
Council
<br>
March 16,2010<br>
University Of New Mexico Law School<br>
<br>
Greeting to you all.<br>
<br>
My name is David Hill. I am of the Choctaw nation and an organizer with
the American Indian Movement since 1972. My reason for this letter is to
bring attention to the illegal, unjust incarceration of my fellow Sun
Dancer, Leonard Peltier, of the Aninshinabe nation, by the US
government.<br>
<br>
I will not go into all of the legalities and illegalities of his case
because we probably would not have enough paper to cover them all.
However there are key points of his illegal incarceration that require no
legal training or expertise to understand.<br>
<br>
Leonard Peltier and others were illegally and unjustifiably attacked June
26,1975 by a contingent of the Federal Bureau of Investigations. In the
act of defending themselves, one Native American and two FBI agents were
killed. The Native people were on their own land and not seeking
confrontation. The Native people had been building cabins and other
buildings as well as planting gardens. They were working toward
developing programs to alleviate the many social ills caused by the
wrongful policies in place by the US government toward Indigenous people.
Our people did not provoke this attack and historically it is consistent
with this government’s policies that has at times driven Indigenous
groups to the point of extinction.<br>
<br>
It is our understanding that you, the receivers of this letter might have
some power of intervention, or promote some form of judicial change in
the case of Leonard Peltier and other political prisoners who have
suffered the same fate.<br>
<br>
Bob Robideau and Dino Butler, who went on trial as a result of this same
altercation, were acquitted by reason of self-defense. Because of the
persecution of Native people, Leonard Peltier was among others who had
escaped to Canada. Otherwise, he would have been tried as a codefendant
of the aforementioned other two men. Leonard was later arrested in Canada
and the Us Government used perjured testimony that they forcefully
manufactured from Myrtle Poor Bear, a Native person, to illegally
extradite Leonard Peltier from Canada.<br>
<br>
This is all a matter of court record and not some form of conjecture. In
Leonard’s ensuing trail, the Us Government did everything it could to
block Mr. Peltier access to the same level of justice that Robideau and
Butler, received in their trail, where they were acquitted. The US
government sequestered jurors and led them to believe their lives were in
jeopardy, thus tainting their impartiality in relationship to Leonard’s
case. The Us Government intimidated witnesses and made them fear for
their lives and the lives of their families to illicit detrimental
perjured testimony against Leonard Peltier. The US government withheld
evidence that would have led to Leonard’s acquittal.<br>
<br>
Prior to the trail the FBI met with the judge regarding Leonard’s case,
which is considered legally inappropriate because it can and did
prejudice the Judge towards Leonard Peltier. The place were Leonard was
tried, Fargo ND is considered by Native people of the area, as well as
other social justice groups to be a racist environment. It is obvious
given these circumstances and in some ways by the FBI’s own admissions,
via their own internal memos that they put the full weight of prosecution
upon Leonard Peltier. They did not caring who paid the price for their
own transgressions against our people. As in the passed, as well as now,
seeking to exonerate themselves of the FBI’s illegal activities. In the
totality of Indigenous versus non –Indigenous relations, this is not an
isolated incident.<br>
<br>
There are to date some 378 treaties ratified by the US Congress that are
violated feloniously every day. There are millions of acres of land that
are legally ours that we are denied access to. There are lands leases
that have expire that this US government has failed to honor and return
the land to the people. <br>
<br>
Bob Robideau and Dino Butler who went on trial before Leonard Peltier
were allowed to present to the best of their ability the many
circumstances that led to the confrontation that day. Because the jury
was not sequestered, because the judge was not visited by the FBI and
because there witnesses were not intimidated by the FBI the truth for the
most part was allowed to be told and the jury and judge were not only
allowed to do what was just but they were allowed to right what was wrong
in the case of these two men. <br>
Again, Robideau & Butler were acquitted by reason of
self-defense. Had the judge and jury in Leonard’s case had access to the
same level of information, Leonard Peltier would undoubtedly be a free
man today.<br>
<br>
Since Leonard’s incarceration all of these things written have been
proven in court and have been recognized by the court as truth. Quoting
one judge who spoke to us in seeming hollow words “Had these
improprieties not happened, Leonard Peltier probably would have been
acquitted.” However he went on further to say that he was not “totally
convinced.” Considering the known racist atmosphere in North and South
Dakota he may have been correct. I am paraphrasing a quote by judge Haney
of the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals who made the aforementioned
statement. He further mentioned the FBI was equally responsible for the
death of their two agents.<br>
<br>
In short every piece of evidence used to convict Leonard Peltier has been
proven false in court. Many attorneys have advised us that in their view
every legal appeal has been filed that would under normal circumstances
exonerate Leonard Peltier in the same way his co-defendants, Dino Butler
and Bob Robideau were exonerated in their trail prior to Leonard’s
trial.<br>
<br>
Under the criteria by which Mr. Butler & Robideau were tried, had the
young Joe Stuntz, who was killed on that day lived and gone to trial he
would have also been found innocent by reason of self-defense. This
means the FBI was at fault and considering the fact that Joe Stuntz was
killed in an act of self-defense, it is reasonable to say the FBI is
guilty of murder. You would be hard pressed to find where any
Euro-American has been prosecuted for the many thousands of Indians
deaths that have occurred at their hands, yet when we as a people under
their same laws defend ourselves there is rarely justice for our
people.<br>
<br>
We as an Indigenous people have always been forced to fight their fight
under their rules. And when we win in their courts they either change the
rules or blatantly ignore their laws. To this date Leonard has satisfied
all the prerequisites for parole or release under judicial rules that
Americans are expected to follow. However to date -35 years after the
Oglala Incident, Leonard Peltier remains a political prisoner. Attorneys
have told us, as well as private statements by various federal judges
behind the scenes, that Leonard’s continued imprisonment is of a
political nature, and so requires a political solution. <br>
<br>
Leonard is 65 and presently denied adequate healthcare and is kept in a
maximum security facility. Scientist say our bodies completely replace
themselves every seven years. For Leonard that is five cellular lifetimes
ago.<br>
<br>
Leonard is not a threat to anyone’s freedom, anyone’s life, anyone’s
property or in any way that would threaten the right to life and a
pursuit of happiness by any just people.<br>
<br>
If you talk to our opposition, they will have many statements to justify
their behavior. However in cross-examination these statements do not
withstand the light of day. There have been dozens of interventions filed
with the UN council on human rights on Leonard’s behalf. Leonard Peltier
has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize five times; he has received
numerous humanitarian awards. He is an accomplished, world renowned
artist. He is a father, a grand father and a great grandfather and
considered an elder by his people, the Turtle Mountain Anishinabe. His
people from Turtle Mountain Reserve have filed a request with the US to
have him paroled or released to their custody. <br>
<br>
There are no justifiable reasons under the auspices of humanitarianism,
judicial ruling or federal law for Leonard Peltieri to remain an
obviously, unequivocally a political prisoner. This is not an isolated
event or case .there are others political prisoners with in the US prison
system. However, what makes Leonard’s case stand out above all others are
the things mentioned in this letter which are a matter of court record
and obvious to anyone who can look at the situation in an unbiased
unprejudiced way, evidence of the illegal unjust imprisonment of Mr.
Peltier.<br>
<br>
I am not just representing personal views but the views, hopes and
prayers of thousands of people worldwide who are familiar with this case.
Our hopes and prayers are that you, in some way can bring relief to
Leonard Pelier, his family and his people; and in doing so some way
promote justice and peace for all people.<br>
<br>
Thank you for your time and the work that you do. May we all live in
harmony with the Creator, the Mother Earth, our fellow men, and respect
our brother’s vision.<br>
<br>
Most sincerely,<br>
In the Spirit of doing what is right<br>
Righting what is wrong<br>
<br>
David Hill Choctow<br>
<br>
Southern, Oklahoma AIM<br>
35828 Hwy 56,<br>
Sasakwa, Ok 74867<br><br>
<br><br>
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