And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
PATHS-LFrom: "LPDC" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Widow of French leader urges release of Peltier Kansas City Star
April 30, 1999
Date: Mon, 3 May 1999 11:00:50 -0500
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Widow of French leader urges release of Peltier
By MARK WIEBE The Kansas City Star
Date: 04/30/99 22:15
With the dome-capped U.S. Penitentiary as a backdrop, the widow of former
French President Francois Mitterrand said Friday in Leavenworth that the
United States should release Leonard Peltier from the prison.
Danielle Mitterrand, president of the human rights organization France
Libertes, spoke at a 30-minute news conference after visiting with Peltier.
She was there in part to investigate Peltier's claims that the prison is not
providing adequate medical treatment for his tetanus infection.
But Mitterrand also said the American Indian activist deserved his freedom.
She emphasized that she had not determined whether Peltier was guilty of
killing two FBI agents on a South Dakota reservation in 1975.
She said, through a translator, "It would seem his innocence has been
proven. I myself (don't) have all the evidence. All the Americans I have met
seem to have that evidence, and I have all the confidence in them."
But not all Americans believe that way.
FBI agent Alan Jennerich of Parkville looks at the evidence presented in
Peltier's 1977 trial and concludes that Peltier killed agents Jack Coler and
Ronald Williams in a shootout that also left an American Indian dead.
Jennerich, speaking as the central region director of the FBI Agents
Association, said: "It is unfortunate that this case has become a cause
celebre for the misinformed anti-law enforcement elements who continue to
agitate for his release.
"If these groups are so concerned about helping those that are wronged, I
suggest that they (help)...the families of the dozens of law enforcement
officers who are murdered every year by the likes of Leonard Peltier."
Earlier this week Mitterrand visited Mumia Abu Jamal, a death-row inmate in
Pennsylvania who says he was wrongly convicted of killing a police officer.
She also met with officials from the U.S. Justice Department in Washington
to discuss Peltier's case, a meeting she described Friday as unproductive.
These visits, Mitterrand said, are part of the efforts of French Libertes,
which she founded in 1986, to "establish peace and solidarity among all
peoples."
Mittterand's organization campaigns against the death penalty. She has also
urged better treatment of Kurds in Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria. On a trip
to northern Iraq in 1992, she escaped injury when a bomb exploded near her
motorcade.
To Peltier, Mitterrand is a dignitary whose international profile surpasses
that of movie stars and other notables who have visited him. In a prison
interview Thursday, he said he was grateful for the opportunity to meet
Mitterrand and expressed hope that her presence would yield better medical
treatment from the prison.
Mitterrand said that getting Peltier proper medical care should be his
supporters' most urgent concern. Peltier suffers lockjaw stemming from a
tetanus infection he has had since childhood.
Peltier said Thursday that he was able to open his mouth no more than a
centimeter.
The condition grew worse after two surgeries in 1996 at the U.S. Medical
Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield. Earaches, headaches and watery
eyes have plagued him every day since, he said.
Mitterrand said she spoke with Leavenworth Warden J.W. Booker Jr., urging
him to write a letter that would allow Peltier to seek treatment from a
doctor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons has
a medical center there.
In a recent press release, the bureau said Peltier's care meets community
standards, that his case has been reviewed and his condition is "stable." He
does not require "prolonged, intensive treatment," the release said.
Despite her focus on international human rights abuses, Mitterrand
acknowledged that France has its own problems -- problems that France
Libertes should not ignore: "You must sweep in front of your own door before
you can sweep in front of someone else's."
To reach Mark Wiebe, Leavenworth County reporter, call (913) 371-1810 or
send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Staff writer Anne Lamoy contributed to this report
Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
PO Box 583
Lawrence, KS 66044
785-842-5774
Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
doctrine of international copyright law.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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