Leipzig, Germany - German activists rallied in front of the US Consulate in Leipzig this past week to demand the release of imprisoned Indigenous freedom fighter Leonard Peltier, as calls for justice echo around the world.

A core of activists in and around Leipzig – a city of around 600,000 in eastern Germany – has been gathering near the US Consulate to hold vigils for Peltier at regular intervals over the past decade.

Bone-chilling winter temperatures did not stop participants from meeting Wednesday, nor were spirits dampened when the music stick – usually used to blast protest songs toward the villa housing the US diplomatic mission – broke.

The lead local organizers, Elke and Holger Zimmer, are volunteers with TOKÁTA – LPSG RheinMain e.V. The group holds actions in cities around Germany in support of Peltier's freedom and is also involved in other Indigenous solidarity initiatives.

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The demonstrations are an opportunity to send a message to the US government and to engage with passersby about Peltier's cause. Volunteers have also been collecting signatures on a Europe-wide clemency petition, to be delivered to President Joe Biden before his White House term ends on January 20.

The frequency of the now-monthly gatherings in Leipzig increased after former President Barack Obama left office in 2017. The Zimmers recall the hope, then shattering disappointment they felt when Obama declined to grant clemency to Peltier in his final days as president.

Now, the activists are imploring Biden to follow through before he is replaced next month by Donald Trump.

Peltier, who has dedicated his life to the liberation of Indigenous Peoples from settler-colonial oppression, has continued the struggle from behind the bars of the high-security Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in Florida.

"Though they have entombed me in concrete and steel, I am a free man. They rounded up our people and put us in concentration camps they call reservations. We remain a free people," Peltier said in a statement on the National Day of Mourning last month.

The member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa – a survivor of the US' genocidal boarding school system – has spent nearly 50 years locked up on charges of killing two FBI special agents in a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. US authorities denied his latest request for parole in July.

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Peltier's conviction is widely considered to be illegitimate. Records suggest the FBI coerced witnesses and excluded and falsified critical evidence in the 1977 murder trial.

Pope Francis, Nelson Mandela, Coretta Scott King, and Mother Theresa count among the American Indian Movement leader's many supporters past and present. Even retired US Attorney James Reynolds, whose office handled the prosecution and appeal of Peltier's case, has called for his release.

It's now crunch time as Indigenous advocates and allies urge Biden to grant executive clemency to Peltier, who – at 80 years old – is aging and in ill health, separated from his family and his homelands.

Peltier's decades-long struggle has resonated with people around the world, including the Zimmers, who see his continued incarceration as a grave injustice with global repercussions.

Elke and Holger grew up in the former German Democratic Republic, a socialist country that existed from 1949 until 1990, when it was absorbed into the Western-aligned Federal Republic of Germany. They recall seeing Peltier's arrest in the news as children.

Years later, the Zimmers decided to stop by the Pine Ridge Reservation on the way to visit their daughter in Canada. Although they were there as tourists and had a very limited view into reservation life, the couple were astonished by the conditions of poverty and deprivation they witnessed.

The experience spurred the Zimmers' activism when they returned to Germany. Together with Dr. Michael Koch, founder of the TOKÁTA organization, they visited Pine Ridge two more times, including for the annual Oglala Commemoration Day.

On one occasion, Elke Zimmer recalls hearing Peltier speak on the phone from prison. Organizers played the call to the crowd over a loudspeaker. Although she couldn't understand Peltier's words due to the English-German language barrier, Zimmer got goosebumps hearing his voice, which she said projected strength and calm in spite of the severity of his situation.

"I found that unbelievable, and I'm shaking again now just remembering it – and not from the cold," she told TAG24 NEWS during Wednesday's rally.

Asked what her message to Biden would be as he prepares to leave office, Zimmer said: "He should show courage and take a stand for justice. The worldwide protests over the decades, they can't go for naught."

"Be human, be brave, and finally free Leonard Peltier," she urged the outgoing US president.