From the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
Fargo, North Dakota
May 18, 2008
For Immediate Release:

Leonard Peltier is a Five-Time Nobel Nominee
http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/mediarelease20080518.htm

        American Indian activist Leonard Peltier has been nominated for the

Nobel Peace Prize for the fifth consecutive year.  The fact that Peltier has

earned the distinction of a Nobel nomination every year since 2004 is

especially remarkable - Peltier has been an inmate in the United States

federal prison system since 1976.

        Peltier’s conviction in the killing of two FBI agents in South Dakota has

long been internationally decried as one of the most blatant injustices in

recent United States legal history.  In the aftermath of his trial, federal

prosecutors were openly excoriated for having manufactured evidence

against Peltier, for having withheld exculpatory evidence, and also for having

coerced witnesses into giving false testimony.  Lynn Crooks, Assistant

Special Prosecutor in Peltier’s trial, admitted to a federal judge that

“the government does not know who killed its agents, nor do we know what

participation Leonard Peltier may have had in it.”   

        And yet Leonard Peltier has remained a prisoner for more than 32

years.  Fifty five United States Senators and Congressional Representatives

(including Democrats and Republicans) have filed an appeal brief

demanding that Peltier receive a new trial.  Amnesty International has

repeatedly called for Peltier’s immediate release from prison, governments

from all over the world have passed resolutions insisting that Peltier be

released, and a large contingent of distinguished human rights advocates

have been very outspoken in their strong support for Peltier - including four

people who have already received the Nobel Peace Prize: Mikhail

Gorbachev (1990), the 14th Dalai Lama (1989), Archbishop Desmond Tutu

(1984), and Mother Teresa (1979).

        It is not Peltier’s status as a political prisoner, however, that has earned

him the honor of five Nobel nominations.  The basis for Peltier’s nominations

has been his own remarkable success in furthering the causes of peace and

human rights.  Despite more than three decades of unjust incarceration,

Peltier has worked tirelessly on a multitude of efforts to help other people

achieve a more dignified and humane existence.  While the Nobel

Committee in Oslo (Norway) requests that letters of nomination not be made

public, it is nonetheless widely known that Leonard Peltier has facilitated

numerous significant donations to a wide variety of charities and human

rights organizations.

        Peltier is, of course, not financially wealthy - but he is an accomplished

painter.  Often expending his meager prison commissary account funds on

art supplies such as paints, brushes, and canvas, he produces works of art

which are subsequently donated and auctioned.  Peltier has also worked to

establish assistance programs for many underprivileged groups, and he has

helped in other ways to fund a multitude of efforts from scholarships for

Native students to shelters for victims of domestic violence.  It is difficult to

determine precisely the sum total of donations and contributions that

Peltier has helped to facilitate, Peltier refuses to boast about his

humanitarian work and many of his projects have not been made public. 

It is estimated, however, that the contributions resulting from Peltier’s work

extend into the millions of dollars.

        Peltier’s long record of human rights advocacy involves more than

raising money.  He has written a great deal while in prison, consistently

taking advantage of every opportunity to encourage people not to harbor

resentments, to take care of the environment, and to treat each other with

love and respect.  It is no small irony that a person treated in such an

inhumane way should so strongly advocate the humane treatment of others,

that a person so financially impoverished should help raise such

extraordinary amounts of money for others, that a person with such just cause

for bitterness and resentment should encourage forgiveness, and that a

person imprisoned should be one of America’s strongest advocates for

freedom.

        Peltier’s 1999 book Prison Writings: My Life is My Sundance (Saint

Martin’s Press) continues to be a best seller on many lists.  It is fitting that

Leonard Peltier’s own words (from his book) should conclude this press

release: “We are in this together - the rich, the poor, the red, the white, the

black, the brown, and the yellow.  We are all one family of humankind.  We

share responsibility for our Mother Earth and for all those who live and

breathe upon her.  I believe our work will be unfinished until not one human

being is hungry or battered, not a single person is forced to die in war, not

one innocent languishes imprisoned, and no one is persecuted for his or her

beliefs.  I believe in the good in humankind.  I believe that the good can

prevail, but only with great effort.  And that effort is ours, each of ours, yours

and mine….Never cease in the fight for peace, justice, and equality for all

people.  Be persistent in all that you do and don’t allow anyone to sway you

from your conscience.”

For more information about the content of this press release,

media correspondents are encouraged to speak with the

Leonard Peltier media contact person:

701-412-4617

peltiermedia@yahoo.com

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For more information about Leonard Peltier’s case, about his humanitarian

work, or about his works of art, please contact his defense committee at this

address:

Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
P.O. Box 7488
Fargo, North Dakota 58106
http://whoisleonardpeltier.info/

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Write to Leonard Peltier at this address:

Leonard Peltier # 89637-132
USP Lewisburg
PO BOX 1000
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania 17837