Estonian-American activist
Jaan Karl Laaman
(born March 21, 1948)
[1]
is an Estonia-born
American
political activist, most known for his conviction and imprisonment related to various charges including a 1982 attempted murder of a police officer.
[2]
He was a member of the
United Freedom Front
.
[3]
Laaman grew up in
Roxbury, Massachusetts
and
Buffalo, New York
. His family emigrated to the
United States
from
Estonia
when he was a child. He had a son who died in 2011.
[4]
Laaman served a major portion of a 53-year prison sentence for his role in the bombings of United States government buildings while a member of the
United Freedom Front
, an American leftist group in the 1980s.
[5]
In the 1960s, Laaman worked in
Students for a Democratic Society
and community organizations and advocated against the
Vietnam War
and racism. As a student at the
University of New Hampshire
, he was a leader in the SDS. He was also a leader in the student strike in May 1970 in reaction to the bombing of Cambodia and the killing of six students during protests at
Kent State University
and Jackson State College.
[
citation needed
]
He facilitated youth development in the
Black Panther Party
and the
Puerto Rican
Young Lords
street gang. In 1972, he was arrested and charged with bombing a
Richard Nixon
re-election headquarters building and a police station in
New Hampshire
and was sentenced to 20 years. However, he was released in 1978. In 1979, he and Kazi Toure helped to organize the
Amandla
Festival of Unity to support an end to apartheid in
Southern Africa
, which featured musician
Bob Marley
.
[
citation needed
]
He was eventually caught with several other members of the United Freedom Front, referred to as the Ohio 7, including leader
Tom Manning
, in 1984. While originally charged with
seditious conspiracy
, Laaman was found guilty of five bombings, one attempted bombing, and criminal conspiracy, and sentenced to 53 years in prison.
[
citation needed
]
In 1977, an important New Hampshire State Supreme Court case was won by Laaman.
[6]
Raymond Helgemoe was the warden of the New Hampshire State Prison. Laaman sued to receive reading material which he was refused. Helgemoe claimed that the material was radical, seditious, and even included bomb-making instructions. The
New Hampshire Supreme Court
, in a decision written by
Hugh Bownes
, decided in favor of Laaman, and this case eventually was used as a justification for offering college-level education in New Hampshire prisons for the first time.
[7]
Laaman was released on May 15, 2021.
[8]
Writings
[
edit
]
- Jan Laaman (Contr. Author) "This Country Must Change: Essays on the Necessity of Revolution in the USA" (Arissa Media Group, 2009).
ISBN
978-0-9742884-7-5
.
References
[
edit
]