Jaan Karl Laaman (born March 21, 1948) is an Estonia-born

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

criminal, convicted and imprisoned on various charges including a 1982 attempted murder of a police officer, and activist. He was a member of the

United Freedom Front The United Freedom Front (UFF) was a small American Marxist organization active in the 1970s and 1980s. It was originally called the Sam Melville/ Jonathan Jackson Unit, and its members became known as the Ohio 7 when they were brought to trial ...

. Laaman grew up in

Roxbury, Massachusetts Roxbury () is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood within the City of Boston, Massachusetts. Roxbury is a Municipal annexation in the United States, dissolved municipality and one of 23 official neighborhoods of Boston used by the city for n ...

and

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

. His family emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

from

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

when he was a child. He had a son who died in 2011. 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

, an American leftist group in the 1980s. In the 1960s, Laaman worked in

Students for a Democratic Society Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a national student activist organization in the United States during the 1960s, and was one of the principal representations of the New Left. Disdaining permanent leaders, hierarchical relationships ...

and community organizations and advocated against the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

and racism. As a student at the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...

, 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 deaths of six protesting students at

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in As ...

and Jackson State College. He facilitated youth development in the

Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxist-Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, Califo ...

and the Puerto Rican

Young Lords The Young Lords, also known as the Young Lords Organization (YLO) or Young Lords Party (YLP), was a Chicago-based street gang that became a civil and human rights organization. The group aims to fight for neighborhood empowerment and self-det ...

street gang. In 1972, he was arrested and charged with bombing a

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

re-election headquarters building and a police station in

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

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 Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

, which featured musician

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

. 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 Seditious conspiracy is a crime in various jurisdictions of Conspiracy (criminal), conspiring against the authority or legitimacy of the state. As a form of sedition, it has been described as a serious but lesser counterpart to treason, targeting ...

, Laaman was found guilty of five bombings, one attempted bombing, and criminal conspiracy, and sentenced to 53 years in prison. In 1977, an important New Hampshire State Supreme Court case was won by Laaman. 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 The New Hampshire Supreme Court is the supreme court of the U. S. state of New Hampshire and sole appellate court of the state. The Supreme Court is seated in the state capital, Concord. The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and four Associate ...

, 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. Laaman was released on May 15, 2021.

Writings

* Jan Laaman (Contr. Author) "This Country Must Change: Essays on the Necessity of Revolution in the USA" (Arissa Media Group, 2009). .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laaman, Jaan 1948 births American activists American bank robbers American people convicted of attempted murder American people of Estonian descent American prisoners and detainees Estonian emigrants to the United States Living people Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government Serial bombers Soviet emigrants to the United States University of New Hampshire alumni