Leonard Peltier's Attorney Disputes Conviction of the Imprisoned Native American Activist

Interview with Barry Bachrach, attorney representing Leonard Peltier, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

One of the most under-reported news stories of our time is that of Native American activist Leonard Peltier who is serving his 30th year of incarceration after being convicted of murdering two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota in 1975. The killings occurred during a wave of violence that lasted several years and included the deaths of dozens of Native Americans on the reservation. Two other members of the American Indian Movement were acquitted of killing the agents, while charges were dropped against a fourth man.

Over the decades, Peltier has become an accomplished painter, author and defender of human rights around the world from his prison cell in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas. In Europe, he is perhaps the best-known American political prisoner. Despite documented misconduct in his case by federal agents and judges, and despite efforts by an array of attorneys and support committees, Peltier is still in prison.

The latest effort to free him came in a hearing on June 15th in Fargo, N.D., site of Peltier's original trial. His attorney for the past three years, Barry Bachrach, argued that Peltier had not been charged with murder under the federal statutes governing crime on Indian reservations, as he should have been.

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Bachrach after the hearing. He explains his argument and strategy in this latest attempt to free Leonard Peltier.

Call the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee at (785) 842-5774 or visit their website at www.freeleonard.org

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