Leonard Peltier, key Native American activist, freed after 49 years in jail

Native American activist Leonard Peltier, convicted of killing two FBI agents and incarcerated for nearly five decades while maintaining his innocence and slamming "unfair trial", has been released from a Florida prison.

A global symbol of the struggle for Indigenous peoples' rights, Peltier was freed from a federal detention centre in Coleman, North Florida on Monday at around 9 am (1400 GMT), according to a Reuters witness.

He departed in a car which was part of a motorcade, and did not speak to supporters or media.

"Today I am finally free! They may have imprisoned me but they never took my spirit!" Peltier said in a statement provided by the NDN Collective activist group.

Peltier, a member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa tribe, is partially blind and in poor health, suffering from diabetes and heart trouble. The 80-year-old will be allowed to live under house arrest.

A homecoming celebration is planned for Peltier on Wednesday at the Turtle Mountain Reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota.

The commutation, granted by ex-president Joe Biden on his last day in office, was long opposed by the FBI. Former agency Director Christopher Wray called Peltier a "remorseless killer."

'Symbol of collective power'

Peltier's supporters, ranging from tribal leaders to figures like the Dalai Lama and Robert Redford, long pushed for his freedom, arguing he was falsely convicted in an unfair trial.

His supporters say prosecutors withheld critical evidence that would have been favourable to Peltier and fabricated affidavits that painted him as guilty.

One of his attorneys, Jenipher Jones, said Peltier was looking forward to going home.

"We’re so excited for this moment," Jones said before his release. "He is in good spirits. He has the soul of a warrior."

His supporters outside the prison, including some who waved flags saying "Free Leonard Peltier," were elated.

"We never thought he would get out," said Ray St. Clair, a member of the White Earth Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe who travelled to Florida to be there for Peltier's release.

"It shows you should never give up hope. We can take this repairing the damage that was done. This is a start."

"Just as his wrongful incarceration represented the oppression of Indigenous Peoples everywhere, his release today is a symbol of our collective power and inherent freedom," Nick Tilsen, NDN Collective Founder and CEO, said in the release.

"He represents every person who's been roughed up by a cop, profiled, had their children harassed at school," said Nick Estes, a professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota and a member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe who advocated for Peltier's release.

'Right thing to do'

Peltier was among a group of Native American men who traded gunfire with FBI Special Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in June 1975.

The agents, who had gone to the reservation in search of a fugitive, were killed, along with one of the Native American activists.

Peltier, part of a movement upholding Native American treaty rights with the US government, has maintained he did not shoot Coler and Williams.

A woman who claimed to have seen Peltier shoot the agents later recanted her testimony, saying it had been coerced.

Peltier fled to Canada before his 1977 trial. He was eventually extradited back to the United States, found guilty and given two life sentences.

"Leonard Peltier's release is the right thing to do given the serious and ongoing human rights concerns about the fairness of his trial, his nearly 50 years behind bars, his health and his age," said Paul O’Brien, executive director at Amnesty International USA.