After 49 years in prison, Native American activist Leonard Peltier was released on Feb. 18. And now his Indigenous community is celebrating with a “welcome home” event. The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians citizen and former American Indian Movement (AIM) activist had been serving two life sentences for the 1975 killings of two FBI agents

The 80-year-old member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa returned to his North Dakota community on Tuesday.

Native American activist Leonard Peltier was defiant toward the government but grateful to his family and supporters as they welcomed him home to North Dakota, one day after his release from a Florida prison where he had been serving a life sentence