WASHINGTON — Native American rights activist Leonard Peltier was released from prison on Tuesday morning, ending his nearly 50 years of incarceration after the U.S. government lied, threatened people and hid evidence to put him behind bars.

“Today I am finally free! They may have imprisoned me but they never took my spirit!” Peltier said in a statement. “Thank you to all my supporters throughout the world who fought for my freedom. I am finally going home. I look forward to seeing my friends, my family, and my community. It’s a good day today.”

NDN Collective, an Indigenous rights group that has been leading Peltier’s legal effort, shared photos of Peltier moments after leaving prison, outside in the sun.

Peltier, 80, had been in prison ever since the federal government accused him of murdering two FBI agents in a 1975 shoot-out on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

There was never evidence that he committed a crime, and federal law enforcement officials later admitted they never did figure out who shot those agents. But the FBI needed someone to take the fall after losing two of its agents, and all of Peltier’s co-defendants were acquitted based on self-defense. So, Peltier became their guy.

His trial was rife with misconduct. The FBI threatened and coerced witnesses into lying. Federal prosecutors hid evidence that exonerated Peltier. A juror acknowledged on the second day of the trial that she had “prejudice against Indians,” but she was kept on anyway.

The government’s case fell apart after these revelations, so it simply revised its charges against Peltier to “aiding and abetting” whoever did kill the agents ― based entirely on the fact that he was one of dozens of people present when the shoot-out took place. Peltier was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life terms.

Over the decades, virtually every international human rights leader, including Mother Teresa, Desmond Tutu and Pope Francis, denounced Peltier’s imprisonment and urged his release. Members of Congress, celebrities, tribal leaders, Indigenous rights groups and millions of regular people called for his freedom. Peltier maintained his innocence the entire time, which almost certainly contributed to him remaining behind bars.

In a stunning final act, Joe Biden, a proud ally to Native American communities and tribes, last month granted clemency to Peltier with just minutes left in his presidency. He set his release date for Tuesday.

Biden didn’t grant a full pardon, however; he commuted Peltier’s sentence to home confinement. That means Peltier, an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, can return home to Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota but must remain in his house.

NDN Collective is hosting and livestreaming a celebratory event in Belcourt, North Dakota, on Wednesday to welcome Peltier home. The group helped to purchase and prepare a house for Peltier to move into upon his return home.

“Today our elder Leonard Peltier walks into the open arms of his people,” said Nick Tilsen, founder and CEO of NDN Collective. “Peltier’s liberation is invaluable in and of itself — yet just as his wrongful incarceration represented the oppression of Indigenous Peoples everywhere, his release today is a symbol of our collective power and inherent freedom.”

Peltier is in poor health, which was a factor in Biden releasing him.

He is now blind in one eye and uses a walker to get around. Due to frequent lockdowns in his maximum security prison in Florida, he spent most of his later years confined to inches of space in a cell. His health problems include an aortic aneurysm and diabetes, which sent him to the hospital in July with “open wounds and tissue death on his toes and feet.” He was hospitalized again in October.

And an asterisk amid the celebration is that Peltier still faces home confinement. Biden almost certainly opted for commuting Peltier’s sentence over a pardon (which would have meant he was fully free) as a nod to the FBI, which has strongly opposed Peltier ever being released — based on incredibly flawed arguments — and criticized Biden’s decision to do so.

This detail makes Peltier’s release somewhat bittersweet for organizations that have long advocated for his freedom.

“Leonard Peltier’s release is the right thing to do given the serious and ongoing human rights concerns about the fairness of his trial, his nearly 50 years behind bars, his health and his age,” said Paul O’Brien, executive director of Amnesty International USA. “While we welcome his release from prison, he should not be restricted to home confinement.”