Pedro Bissonette

Released
Date of birth:20. 01. 1944
Date of death:17. 10. 1973
Age:29† Deceased
Gender:Male
Race:Native American
Era:1970s
State:South Dakota
Support
Indigenous Sovereignty American Indian Movement
Pedro Bissonette

Biography

Pedro Bissonette was an Oglala Lakota co-founder and executive director of the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization and one of the principal local organizers of the 1973 Wounded Knee occupation. Federal authorities arrested him in Rapid City on April 27, 1973 on an insurrection charge and held him in the Pierre jail while seeking high bonds in both that case and the Wounded Knee prosecution. The available record confirms confinement but does not establish his exact release date. Bureau of Indian Affairs police shot and killed Bissonette on the Pine Ridge Reservation on October 17, 1973, while attempting to serve a warrant; AIM members and his family disputed the official account.

Case

Charges: Insurrection and federal charges arising from the Wounded Knee occupation
Arrested: Apr 27, 1973
Sentence: Held in the Pierre jail after his April 27, 1973 arrest; an exact release date has not been located.
Judge: Andrew Bogue (May 31, 1973 bail hearing)

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