SUMTERVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Native American activist Leonard Peltier was released from a Florida prison on Tuesday, weeks after then-President Joe Biden angered law enforcement officials by commuting his life sentence in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents.

Peltier, 80, grew emotional as he addressed about 500 people who gathered at a festive event to welcome him home to North Dakota, Wednesday, Feb. 19, on the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians' reservation.

After nearly 50 years of incarceration, Native American political activist Leonard Peltier has been released from prison. Former President Joe Biden commuted his sentence in January before leaving office.

The commutation, praised by advocates who say Peltier was a political prisoner, prompted criticism from some who say Peltier is guilty, including a former FBI director.

Peltier, who has always maintained his innocence in the killing of two FBI agents 50 years ago, was released Tuesday from a federal prison in Florida.

More than 50 years after a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation landed him in federal prison, Leonard Peltier remains defiant.

In his first interview since leaving prison, Leonard Peltier maintains his innocence and tells the Associated Press his release marks a new era in his fight for Indigenous rights. (AP video: Mark Vanc