[Ppnews] American Lori Berenson freed from Peru prison

Mon Nov 8 19:42:34 EST 2010

American Lori Berenson freed from Peru prison

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/american-lori-berenson-freed-733630.html?cxtype=rss_news_60046

By CARLA SALAZAR

The Associated Press

LIMA, Peru  American activist Lori Berenson 
walked free from a Peruvian prison Monday for the 
second time after serving three-quarters of a 
20-year sentence for collaborating with leftist rebels.

US citizen Lori Berenson, left, puts her 
fingerprint on a document at a courthouse in 
Lima, Peru, Friday, Nov. 5, 2010. A Peruvian 
judge granted parole to Berenson after 15 years 
in prison for aiding leftist rebels. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

The 40-year-old New York woman and her lawyer and 
husband, Anibal Apari, were seen arriving at the 
Lima apartment where she plans to live.

"I will not be making any statements at this time," Berenson told reporters.

Apari told CPN radio that Berenson was "once 
again trying to adjust, and organizing her 
things" at the residence, where she plans to 
spend her time working and studying.

Hours earlier, Berenson's 18-month-old son left 
the jail, where he had been staying with his 
mother, in the arms of his grandmother Rhoda Berenson.

Berenson was initially paroled in May, but then 
was returned to prison in mid-August on a 
technicality. The same judge who first freed 
Berenson reinstated her parole Friday.

Her legal troubles are not over, however.

The former Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
student must remain in Peru until her full 
sentence is served  unless President Alan Garcia 
decides to <http://g.ajc.com/r/DW/>commute it.

Garcia has indicated he will not consider a 
decision until all of the legal issues in the 
case have been resolved, which means Berenson 
could be stuck in the South American nation for some time.

Meanwhile, prosecutor Julio Galindo has vowed to 
appeal the parole order, saying it is his duty to 
protect Peruvian society and Berenson's case 
could establish a precedent for others convicted 
of terrorism-related crimes to argue that they, too, should go free.

"Our goal is to achieve the revocation" of 
Berenson's parole, Galindo said Monday. "This is 
a very sensitive matter for the country."

Apari said previously it could take two to three 
months for the appeal to be resolved.

Berenson was arrested in 1995 and accused of 
helping the leftist Tupac Amaru Revolutionary 
Movement plan an armed takeover of Congress. The 
takeover never happened, but prosecutors said 
that among other things, Berenson had helped the group to rent a safe house.

A military court convicted her the following year 
and sentenced her to life in prison for sedition, 
but she was retried by a civilian court in 2001 
and sentenced to 20 years for terrorist collaboration.

Berenson was completely unrepentant at the time 
of her arrest but softened during years of 
sometimes harsh prison conditions, eventually 
being praised as a model prisoner.

In May, she apologized to Peruvians in a letter 
for any hurt she may have caused.

Yet she is viewed by many Peruvians as a symbol 
of the rebel violence that afflicted the nation 
two decades ago. Many people remain traumatized 
by the 1980-2000 conflict that claimed 80,000 
lives. In that conflict, the fanatical Maoist 
Shining Path movement did most of the killing, 
while Tupac Amaru was a minor player.

Berenson denies ever belonging to Tupac Amaru or engaging in violent acts.

In August, when she was returned to prison, 
Berenson said in an interview with three 
Lima-based journalists that her case had become a 
political football with presidential elections due in April.

Berenson's new neighbors protested vehemently the 
first time she was released and showed up at her 
apartment in the Miraflores area, but there was 
no immediate outcry from them Monday evening.

___

November 08, 2010 07:34 PM EST

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