A well-known Indigenous activist is celebrating his soon-to-be freedom.

Before he left office, President Joe Biden commuted the sentence of Leonard Peltier. It was a move that’s being cheered by some and opposed by others.

After nearly 50 years in prison, Peltier, convicted in the fatal shootings of two FBI agents on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation, will soon be heading home.

Biden commuted Peltier’s life in prison sentence to home confinement, adding tribal leaders, former prosecutors and human rights groups support clemency.

“I couldn’t stop shaking, it was such an emotional overwhelming feeling,” said Rachel Dionne-Thunder, an activist who advocated for his release.

Back in 2022, Dionne-Thunder was part of a march from Minneapolis to DC to push for Peltier’s freedom. Years before, her father, Jim Thunder, a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), also advocated for Peltier.

“So many leaders in the American Indian Movement that worked and sacrificed for Leonard’s freedom that are not here with us and I know they are with us in the spirit world,” said Dionne-Thunder.

“Indian people this summer are very uptight about the situation, they are moved now,” said AIM co-founder Dennis Banks.

In 1974, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS spoke with Banks, who advocated for Indigenous rights and freedoms after the group was formed in Minneapolis.

Peltier had been a member of the group. At the time, AIM caught the government’s attention.

Peltier maintains he was “wrongly” convicted, citing falsified evidence.

FBI agents marched in Washington to oppose Peltier’s attempt to gain clemency from the White House in 2000.

On Monday, the FBI Agents Association posted, “It is a cruel betrayal to the families and colleagues of these fallen agents and is a slap in the face of law enforcement.”

Peltier’s family is making plans to welcome the 80-year-old home to North Dakota.

“…Give him a big hug and a kiss… I don’t want to let go,” said his sister, Betty Ann Peltier Solano.