Lori Berenson
Encyclopedia
Lori Helene Berenson is an American convicted in Peru of unlawful collaboration with the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement
(MRTA), which the Peruvian government regarded as a terrorist organization, and which had committed numerous attacks in attempting to overthrow the government. Her arrest and conviction, and the circumstances of her trials, provoked considerable attention in the United States and in Peru.
After securing press credentials for herself and a photographer, visiting Peru's Congress to interview some of its members and attend sessions where she took notes and sketched a seating plan, Berenson was arrested on a public bus along with the photographer. Her photographer turned out to be the wife of a top MRTA leader, a fact Berenson stated she was unaware of at that time. The MRTA is alleged to have intended to use the information to seize lawmakers and exchange the hostages for imprisoned MRTA members. The house she rented in Lima
was found to contain an arsenal of weapons and ammunition, together with armed guerrillas who violently resisted capture. She denied knowing of the presence of the weaponry or guerillas, or that the documents she prepared would be used for terrorism. In 2011 she admitted that she had known her associates were MRTA members and said: “It might not have been intentional, but the bottom line is: I did collaborate with them." In the same interview she maintained that she had not been aware that weapons were being amassed in the upper floors of her house which she had sublet to the MRTA members, or that violent actions were being planned at the Congress, stating that “at that time in Fujimori’s dictatorship, Congress was the only place that there was some sort of democratic process.”
Shortly after arrest, she made an angry statement, alleging that the MRTA was not a terrorist group, but was a revolutionary movement—a statement which caused great animosity towards her by many Peruvians.
After she was tried in 1996 by a military tribunal with a hooded judge and sentenced to life imprisonment, Berenson became "a cause celebre for human rights
campaigners and a symbol for leftwing social activists around the world." Although publicly-known judges had previously been killed in Peru by the MRTA , other elements of her trial were considered to be violations of human rights and to lack in impartiality, provoking controversy in the United States and other countries. In particular, she was allegedly denied the right to examine the government's evidence and witnesses
. She was convicted of treason and sentenced to life without parole. In 2000, following a change of government in Peru, her conviction was overturned and she received a new trial. She was found guilty of collaboration with terrorism and sentenced to 20 years of prison. She served 15 years, and was granted conditional release in May 2010. In August 2010 an appeals court ordered that Berenson be arrested and made to serve out the remainder of her sentence. On November 5, 2010, a Peruvian judge ordered she be released from prison. She is currently on parole and must remain in Peru until her sentence ends in 2015, unless the sentence is commuted.
to Rhoda and Mark Berenson, both college professors. On her web site, she states that she volunteered for soup kitchens and blood banks and also worked as a mother's helper in the Hamptons as a teenager. While an undergraduate at MIT, she volunteered with the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
(CISPES). Before graduating, she left MIT to work with CISPES. Later she went to El Salvador and became secretary and translator for Leonel González, a leader of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front
(FMLN), during negotiations that achieved peace in 1992. FMLN was at that time an umbrella organization associated with various leftist guerilla organizations and the Salvadoran Communist Party and working to overthrow the Salvadoran military dictatorship. FMLN transitioned during the peace process to a become a legal political party. Gonzalez (aka Salvador Sánchez Cerén
) is currently the Vice President of El Salvador.
After political reconciliation came to the area Berenson moved to Peru. During her travels and political activities, she claims she was supported by an educational trust fund established by her parents.
(MRTA), a group that had committed numerous terrorist attacks in Peru including kidnapping, bank robberies, extortion, hostage taking, and assassinations. Berenson, however, denies knowing that they were MRTA members.
Berenson co-rented a large house in Lima in an upscale neighborhood. Much of the house was later used as a safe house
by MRTA operatives, with up to 15 of them occupying their part of the residence. Berenson later claimed to be unaware of the connection and to have moved out some months prior to her arrest
Berenson obtained press credentials for herself and her photographer to the Congress of Peru
, papers which were later
reported by the media to be "false journalist credentials" However her support website states that "After half a decade of hands-on experience ... Lori was able to obtain assignments from two U.S. publications, Modern Times and Third World Viewpoint, to work as a free-lance journalist. She secured appropriate press credentials in Lima. At the time of her arrest she was researching articles about the effects of poverty on women in Perú. Her parents are in possession of some of the transcripts of her work, but the Peruvian anti-terrorist police took most of it when her apartment was searched." Her photographer, Nancy Gilvonio, was actually the wife of Néstor Cerpa
, the MRTA second-in-command — although Berenson claims she was unaware of this connection and claimed that she knew her only as a Bolivian photographer. Berenson had entered the main Congress building with Gilvonio several times during 1995 to interview members of Congress. Gilvonio was alleged to have provided the information she collected to the MRTA including detailed information on the floor plans of Congress, its security and members. The plan was for the MRTA to invade the Congress building, kidnap the legislators, and exchange the hostages for MRTA prisoners.
On November 30, 1995, Berenson and Gilvonio were arrest
ed on a public bus in downtown Lima
. Berenson was accused of being a leader of the MRTA, which had been officially classified as a terrorist group by the government.
Within hours the government launched an all-night siege
of the MRTA safe house previously rented by Berenson during which three MRTA guerrillas and one police officer died and 14 guerrillas were captured. The safe house was found to contain an "arsenal of weapons", including 3,000 sticks of dynamite. Diagrams, notes, weapons, and police and military uniforms found at the safe house suggested that the group was planning to seize members of Congress and trade them for captured guerrillas. Police also seized a floor plan and a scale architectural model of the Congress building from the safe house. After being taken to the house siege, in which Berenson claims she was used as a human shield by the Peruvian police, both women were taken to the DINCOTE (División Nacional Contra el Terrorismo, or National Counter Terrorist Division).
On January 8, 1996, the DINCOTE hosted a news event in which they showed Berenson to the press. At the event, she shouted, her fists clenched to her sides, "There are no criminal terrorists in the MRTA.; it's a revolutionary movement!" That image continues to make her unpopular in Peru. Her supporters later claimed that her vehement defense of MRTA came about because she was angry over the treatment of a wounded cell mate and that she was instructed by authorities to shout in order to be heard.
enacted during a state of emergency
declared by the authoritarian government of President Alberto Fujimori
, Berenson was tried in a closed courtroom by a military tribunal
on a charge of treason against the fatherland for leadership of a terrorist organization. This charge did not require Peruvian citizenship as an element. The proceedings were conducted by a hooded military judge who spoke through a voice distortion apparatus (judges often concealed their identities to protect themselves from assassination). On January 11, 1996, six weeks after her arrest and three days after her presentation to the media, Berenson was sentenced to life in prison. An appeal lodged against the conviction was dismissed on January 30. Due to the nature of the closed military court, Berenson became "a cause celebre for human rights campaigners" who disputed the fairness of the proceedings. In February 1999, after three years of fact-finding, the U.N. Working
Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Ms. Berenson had been
arbitrarily deprived of her liberty in violation of various articles
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of which Peru is a
signatory. According to the Carter Center
among the violations of
international legal standards and due process, "Ms. Berenson's trial
was in a secret military court, where her lawyer was not allowed to
cross-examine witnesses or challenge evidence," and former president Carter
stated directly that he was "deeply concerned that Lori Berenson has not been
afforded her rights of due process by
law."
In 2000, after years of political pressure from the United States and the human rights
community, Peru’s Supreme Military Council overturned Berenson’s treason conviction and life sentence and remanded her case to the civilian court for retrial. On June 20, 2001, a three-judge panel convicted Berenson of collaboration with terrorists, but ruled she was not a terrorist. She was sentenced to 20 years, with consideration given for time already served under her prior conviction.
In 2002, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
of the Organization of American States
condemned the system under which Berenson was tried. Alleging violations of the American Convention on Human Rights, to which Peru is a party, Berenson's case was referred to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
of the Organization of American States when the government of Peru refused to accept the Commission’s recommendations.
On November 25, 2004 the Inter-American Court upheld the conviction and sentence. The Court did condemn the judicial system under which Berenson was originally tried, and also condemned Berenson's earlier incarceration at Yanamayo Prison. Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo
hailed the verdict, and The New York Times noted that few Peruvians have any sympathy for Berenson.
According to her release website, in 1998, Amnesty International
issued a press release declaring Berenson to be a political prisoner
Amnesty criticized the Peruvian anti-terrorism legislation, stating that, "it is unacceptable for hundreds of political prisoners like Berenson not to be able to exercise their basic human right to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal."
In December 1996, the MRTA seized the Japanese Ambassador's residence in Lima
and demanded that MRTA prisoners be released in exchange for the release of their hostages. MRTA leader Nestor Cerpa, Nancy Gilvonio's husband, led the takeover of the Embassy. Berenson was third on a list of MRTA prisoners whose release was sought by the hostage-takers. After 126 days, the standoff ended in a raid by Peruvian special forces in which all hostage-takers were killed. Two military personnel, commander EP Juan Valer Sandoval and captain EP Raúl Jiménez Chávez, and one of the seventy-two hostages, Carlos Giusti were also killed.
On July 21, 1999, the United States House of Representatives
voted against an amendment sponsored by US Rep. Maxine Waters
described as "to express the sense of Congress concerning support for democracy in Peru and the release of Lori Berenson". The vote failed 189 to 234.
In January 2002 Thomas Gumbleton
, Bishop of Archdiocese of Detroit and founder of Pax Christi
USA, visited with Lori to work with Peruvian government officials "for her release." Berenson was visited by other religious leaders, including William Nottingham, President Emeritus of Overseas Ministries for Disciples of Christ, who after meeting with Lori stated that "She has maintained her innocence in the face of many inducements. She neither condones nor justifies violence of any kind" and that her "involvements in Latin America were motivated by her concern for social justice and her understanding of the oppression of the poor. Her humanitarian and political sympathies made her the target of an oppressive right-wing government."
Columns were written for American newspapers, such as The Washington Post and The New York Times, calling on the US to pressure Peru to free Berenson. Other writers, however, took the contrary position, including the Wall Street Journal online edition. Her parents had a short independent film made in protest against her earlier military trial, and her story was reported on several top television news shows. Her parents continued to work for her release and their website provided regular updates on Berenson's situation.
, the first of which the Inter-American Court ruled is operated inhumanely. The Yanamayo prison where Berenson was initially held for about three years lies at 3650 metres (11,975.1 ft) above sea level near Lake Titicaca
in the Puno Region
, in southern Peru.
On 7 October 1998 Berenson was moved to another prison in Socabaya. She remained there until 31 August 2000, when she was transferred to the women's prison of Chorrillos
in Lima. Then, on 21 December 2001, she was relocated to the maximum-security Huacariz Penitentiary in Cajamarca
, 560 kilometres (348 mi) north of Lima.
In February 2002, Berenson took part in a 25-day hunger strike
of "political prisoners" in an attempt to influence the government of Peru to improve prison conditions and revise its anti-terrorism laws. The strike ended without reaching its goals. Less than a year later, Peru revised many of those laws.
In October 2003, Berenson married Aníbal Apari Sánchez, 40, whom she had met in 1997 when they were both incarcerated at Yanamayo prison. Apari Sánchez was convicted of being a member of the MRTA. When released in 2003 on conditional liberty (parole) in Lima, his travel was restricted. Due to this, he was not present at the wedding in Cajamarca and had to be represented by his father. Later, her husband was allowed conjugal visits. Apari Sánchez is now a practicing attorney in Lima and directs a non-governmental organization (NGO) that assists individuals formerly imprisoned on charges of assisting or being members of the MRTA in their rehabilitation into society. He is also co-founder of a political party, Patria Libre, that intends to participate in the 2011 national elections.
From 2003 through 2008 Berenson worked in and co-managed the bakery at Huacariz Prison which served the inmate population and the Cajamarca community.
Periodically, through her website page entitled "Lori's Words," Berenson issues advice to youth as well as criticism of the policies of the World Bank
and the International Monetary Fund
, the war in Iraq, the "American Way of Life," the Peruvian "political class," and alleged maltreatment and torture of prisoners. Berenson's commentaries on capitalism
, globalism
, and alleged environmental destruction caused by mining companies have also appeared on the Internet.
In addition, her commentaries are read on Prison Radio
.
On 16 September 2008, her father announced that she was pregnant with her first child.
In January 2009, Berenson was transferred to a prison in Lima due to a serious back problem which complicated her pregnancy. In May 2009, she gave birth to a boy, whom she named Salvador, and who lived with her while she was in prison. In Peru, children are allowed to remain with their incarcerated mothers until age 3.
On May 25, 2010, after serving 15 years, Berenson was granted a conditional release, with the judge stating that she would have to remain in Peru on parole for the remaining five years of her sentence, but would be freed from prison. Berenson's attorneys submitted documents to the court indicating that she "recognized she committed errors" by associating herself with the MRTA. She was freed two days later, a release which attracted a media circus. She was driven to an apartment in the upscale Miraflores area of Lima, where her new neighbors welcomed her by shouting "terrorist" at her. Berenson's parents indicated that she will separate from Apari and raise her son, Salvador as a single mother. Peru's Minister of Justice, Victor Garcia, stated that the Cabinet may commute Berenson's sentence and expel her from the country.
With protesters gathering daily outside her Lima apartment building, lighting candles and demanding that she be deported from Peru, Berenson sent a letter to President Alan Garcia admitting her "criminal responsibility for terrorist collaboration" and further writing “I would also like to say that I very much regret the harm I have caused Peruvian society, and I ask forgiveness from people who have been affected by my actions or words.” She then requested that her sentence be commuted so she can return to the United States.
On June 8, 2010, former U.S. president Bill Clinton
, speaking while on a visit to Peru, expressed his support for Berenson's release, stating "I'm glad Lori Berenson was released ... when I was president, I worked for that."
Peru’s state attorney for counter-terrorism, Julio Galindo, appealed Berenson's parole, depicting her as a calculating, unrepentant extremist who posed a continuing threat to the Peruvian public. On August 16, 2010 Berenson appeared before the appeals court to request she be allowed to remain free on parole. In responding to Galindo's allegations, she stated that she was not a threat to society:
On 18 August 2010 the appeals court annulled Berenson's parole and returned her to prison while technical aspects of the parole were considered.
On November 8, 2010, Berenson was again released on parole.
In January 2011, an appeals court rejected a prosecutor's attempt to revoke her parole. Berenson and her attorney told reporters that the ruling is final and cannot be appealed by prosecutors, ending eight months of legal uncertainty.
Constitutional law expert Mario Amoretti, while agreeing that the ruling should be final, remarked that the state conceivably could file a challenge, claiming some constitutional violation, but he said he didn't see grounds for such an appeal. Berenson must remain in Peru on supervised parole until her 20-year sentence ends in 2015, unless the sentence is commuted by the President. When he was President, Alan Garcia said he would consider a commutation only after the legal case had run its course.
Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement
The Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement was a Marxist revolutionary group active in Peru from the early 1980s to 1997 and one of the main actors in the internal conflict in Peru...
(MRTA), which the Peruvian government regarded as a terrorist organization, and which had committed numerous attacks in attempting to overthrow the government. Her arrest and conviction, and the circumstances of her trials, provoked considerable attention in the United States and in Peru.
After securing press credentials for herself and a photographer, visiting Peru's Congress to interview some of its members and attend sessions where she took notes and sketched a seating plan, Berenson was arrested on a public bus along with the photographer. Her photographer turned out to be the wife of a top MRTA leader, a fact Berenson stated she was unaware of at that time. The MRTA is alleged to have intended to use the information to seize lawmakers and exchange the hostages for imprisoned MRTA members. The house she rented in Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
was found to contain an arsenal of weapons and ammunition, together with armed guerrillas who violently resisted capture. She denied knowing of the presence of the weaponry or guerillas, or that the documents she prepared would be used for terrorism. In 2011 she admitted that she had known her associates were MRTA members and said: “It might not have been intentional, but the bottom line is: I did collaborate with them." In the same interview she maintained that she had not been aware that weapons were being amassed in the upper floors of her house which she had sublet to the MRTA members, or that violent actions were being planned at the Congress, stating that “at that time in Fujimori’s dictatorship, Congress was the only place that there was some sort of democratic process.”
Shortly after arrest, she made an angry statement, alleging that the MRTA was not a terrorist group, but was a revolutionary movement—a statement which caused great animosity towards her by many Peruvians.
After she was tried in 1996 by a military tribunal with a hooded judge and sentenced to life imprisonment, Berenson became "a cause celebre for human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
campaigners and a symbol for leftwing social activists around the world." Although publicly-known judges had previously been killed in Peru by the MRTA , other elements of her trial were considered to be violations of human rights and to lack in impartiality, provoking controversy in the United States and other countries. In particular, she was allegedly denied the right to examine the government's evidence and witnesses
Due process
Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...
. She was convicted of treason and sentenced to life without parole. In 2000, following a change of government in Peru, her conviction was overturned and she received a new trial. She was found guilty of collaboration with terrorism and sentenced to 20 years of prison. She served 15 years, and was granted conditional release in May 2010. In August 2010 an appeals court ordered that Berenson be arrested and made to serve out the remainder of her sentence. On November 5, 2010, a Peruvian judge ordered she be released from prison. She is currently on parole and must remain in Peru until her sentence ends in 2015, unless the sentence is commuted.
Background
Berenson was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to Rhoda and Mark Berenson, both college professors. On her web site, she states that she volunteered for soup kitchens and blood banks and also worked as a mother's helper in the Hamptons as a teenager. While an undergraduate at MIT, she volunteered with the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, based in Washington, D.C., is a national activist organization with chapters in various cities in the United States. CISPES supports the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front and the progressive social movement in El Salvador.CISPES...
(CISPES). Before graduating, she left MIT to work with CISPES. Later she went to El Salvador and became secretary and translator for Leonel González, a leader of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front
Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front
The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front is, since 1992, a left-wing political party in El Salvador and formerly a coalition of five revolutionary guerrilla organizations...
(FMLN), during negotiations that achieved peace in 1992. FMLN was at that time an umbrella organization associated with various leftist guerilla organizations and the Salvadoran Communist Party and working to overthrow the Salvadoran military dictatorship. FMLN transitioned during the peace process to a become a legal political party. Gonzalez (aka Salvador Sánchez Cerén
Salvador Sánchez Cerén
Salvador Sánchez Cerén is a Salvadoran politician and former teacher. Following the 2009 presidential election, he is the Vice President of El Salvador....
) is currently the Vice President of El Salvador.
After political reconciliation came to the area Berenson moved to Peru. During her travels and political activities, she claims she was supported by an educational trust fund established by her parents.
Activities in Peru and arrest
In Peru Berenson met members of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary MovementTúpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement
The Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement was a Marxist revolutionary group active in Peru from the early 1980s to 1997 and one of the main actors in the internal conflict in Peru...
(MRTA), a group that had committed numerous terrorist attacks in Peru including kidnapping, bank robberies, extortion, hostage taking, and assassinations. Berenson, however, denies knowing that they were MRTA members.
Berenson co-rented a large house in Lima in an upscale neighborhood. Much of the house was later used as a safe house
Safe house
In the jargon of law enforcement and intelligence agencies, a safe house is a secure location, suitable for hiding witnesses, agents or other persons perceived as being in danger...
by MRTA operatives, with up to 15 of them occupying their part of the residence. Berenson later claimed to be unaware of the connection and to have moved out some months prior to her arrest
Berenson obtained press credentials for herself and her photographer to the Congress of Peru
Congress of Peru
The Congress of the Republic of Peru or the National Congress of Peru is the unicameral body that assumes legislative power in Peru.Congress consists of 130 members of congress , who are elected for five year periods in office on a proportional representation basis...
, papers which were later
reported by the media to be "false journalist credentials" However her support website states that "After half a decade of hands-on experience ... Lori was able to obtain assignments from two U.S. publications, Modern Times and Third World Viewpoint, to work as a free-lance journalist. She secured appropriate press credentials in Lima. At the time of her arrest she was researching articles about the effects of poverty on women in Perú. Her parents are in possession of some of the transcripts of her work, but the Peruvian anti-terrorist police took most of it when her apartment was searched." Her photographer, Nancy Gilvonio, was actually the wife of Néstor Cerpa
Néstor Cerpa Cartolini
Néstor Cerpa Cartolini — sometimes known by the nom de guerre "Evaristo" — was a member, then leader of the Peruvian Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement guerrilla movement....
, the MRTA second-in-command — although Berenson claims she was unaware of this connection and claimed that she knew her only as a Bolivian photographer. Berenson had entered the main Congress building with Gilvonio several times during 1995 to interview members of Congress. Gilvonio was alleged to have provided the information she collected to the MRTA including detailed information on the floor plans of Congress, its security and members. The plan was for the MRTA to invade the Congress building, kidnap the legislators, and exchange the hostages for MRTA prisoners.
On November 30, 1995, Berenson and Gilvonio were arrest
Arrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
ed on a public bus in downtown Lima
Lima District
Lima is a district of the Lima Province in Peru. It is not where the inner city zone of Lima, the country's capital city, is located, San Isidro District being such area in Lima....
. Berenson was accused of being a leader of the MRTA, which had been officially classified as a terrorist group by the government.
Within hours the government launched an all-night siege
Siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...
of the MRTA safe house previously rented by Berenson during which three MRTA guerrillas and one police officer died and 14 guerrillas were captured. The safe house was found to contain an "arsenal of weapons", including 3,000 sticks of dynamite. Diagrams, notes, weapons, and police and military uniforms found at the safe house suggested that the group was planning to seize members of Congress and trade them for captured guerrillas. Police also seized a floor plan and a scale architectural model of the Congress building from the safe house. After being taken to the house siege, in which Berenson claims she was used as a human shield by the Peruvian police, both women were taken to the DINCOTE (División Nacional Contra el Terrorismo, or National Counter Terrorist Division).
On January 8, 1996, the DINCOTE hosted a news event in which they showed Berenson to the press. At the event, she shouted, her fists clenched to her sides, "There are no criminal terrorists in the MRTA.; it's a revolutionary movement!" That image continues to make her unpopular in Peru. Her supporters later claimed that her vehement defense of MRTA came about because she was angry over the treatment of a wounded cell mate and that she was instructed by authorities to shout in order to be heard.
Trials
In accordance with anti-terrorism legislationAnti-terrorism legislation
Anti-terrorism legislation designs various types of laws passed in the aim of fighting terrorism. They usually, if not always, follow specific bombings or assassinations...
enacted during a state of emergency
State of emergency
A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend some normal functions of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, alert citizens to change their normal behaviours, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale...
declared by the authoritarian government of President Alberto Fujimori
Alberto Fujimori
Alberto Fujimori Fujimori served as President of Peru from 28 July 1990 to 17 November 2000. A controversial figure, Fujimori has been credited with the creation of Fujimorism, uprooting terrorism in Peru and restoring its macroeconomic stability, though his methods have drawn charges of...
, Berenson was tried in a closed courtroom by a military tribunal
Military law
Military justice is the body of laws and procedures governing members of the armed forces. Many states have separate and distinct bodies of law that govern the conduct of members of their armed forces. Some states use special judicial and other arrangements to enforce those laws, while others use...
on a charge of treason against the fatherland for leadership of a terrorist organization. This charge did not require Peruvian citizenship as an element. The proceedings were conducted by a hooded military judge who spoke through a voice distortion apparatus (judges often concealed their identities to protect themselves from assassination). On January 11, 1996, six weeks after her arrest and three days after her presentation to the media, Berenson was sentenced to life in prison. An appeal lodged against the conviction was dismissed on January 30. Due to the nature of the closed military court, Berenson became "a cause celebre for human rights campaigners" who disputed the fairness of the proceedings. In February 1999, after three years of fact-finding, the U.N. Working
Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Ms. Berenson had been
arbitrarily deprived of her liberty in violation of various articles
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of which Peru is a
signatory. According to the Carter Center
Carter Center
The Carter Center is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter. In partnership with Emory University, The Carter Center works to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering...
among the violations of
international legal standards and due process, "Ms. Berenson's trial
was in a secret military court, where her lawyer was not allowed to
cross-examine witnesses or challenge evidence," and former president Carter
stated directly that he was "deeply concerned that Lori Berenson has not been
afforded her rights of due process by
law."
In 2000, after years of political pressure from the United States and the human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
community, Peru’s Supreme Military Council overturned Berenson’s treason conviction and life sentence and remanded her case to the civilian court for retrial. On June 20, 2001, a three-judge panel convicted Berenson of collaboration with terrorists, but ruled she was not a terrorist. She was sentenced to 20 years, with consideration given for time already served under her prior conviction.
In 2002, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is an autonomous organ of the Organization of American States .Along with the...
of the Organization of American States
Organization of American States
The Organization of American States is a regional international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States...
condemned the system under which Berenson was tried. Alleging violations of the American Convention on Human Rights, to which Peru is a party, Berenson's case was referred to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an autonomous judicial institution based in the city of San José, Costa Rica. Together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, it makes up the human rights protection system of the Organization of American States , which serves to uphold and...
of the Organization of American States when the government of Peru refused to accept the Commission’s recommendations.
On November 25, 2004 the Inter-American Court upheld the conviction and sentence. The Court did condemn the judicial system under which Berenson was originally tried, and also condemned Berenson's earlier incarceration at Yanamayo Prison. Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo
Alejandro Toledo
Alejandro Celestino Toledo Manrique is a politician who was President of Peru from 2001 to 2006. He was elected in April 2001, defeating former President Alan García...
hailed the verdict, and The New York Times noted that few Peruvians have any sympathy for Berenson.
Efforts to free Berenson
Over the years, there were several efforts made on behalf of Berenson, stemming from concerns she did not obtain a fair trial or was not receiving humanitarian treatment, or simply to obtain her release. Various endeavors have come from Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.According to her release website, in 1998, Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
issued a press release declaring Berenson to be a political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
Amnesty criticized the Peruvian anti-terrorism legislation, stating that, "it is unacceptable for hundreds of political prisoners like Berenson not to be able to exercise their basic human right to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal."
In December 1996, the MRTA seized the Japanese Ambassador's residence in Lima
Japanese embassy hostage crisis
The Japanese embassy hostage crisis began on 17 December 1996 in Lima, Peru, when 14 members of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement took hostage hundreds of high-level diplomats, government and military officials and business executives who were attending a party at the official residence of...
and demanded that MRTA prisoners be released in exchange for the release of their hostages. MRTA leader Nestor Cerpa, Nancy Gilvonio's husband, led the takeover of the Embassy. Berenson was third on a list of MRTA prisoners whose release was sought by the hostage-takers. After 126 days, the standoff ended in a raid by Peruvian special forces in which all hostage-takers were killed. Two military personnel, commander EP Juan Valer Sandoval and captain EP Raúl Jiménez Chávez, and one of the seventy-two hostages, Carlos Giusti were also killed.
On July 21, 1999, the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
voted against an amendment sponsored by US Rep. Maxine Waters
Maxine Waters
Maxine Waters is the U.S. Representative for , and previously the 29th district, serving since 1991. She is a member of the Democratic Party....
described as "to express the sense of Congress concerning support for democracy in Peru and the release of Lori Berenson". The vote failed 189 to 234.
In January 2002 Thomas Gumbleton
Thomas Gumbleton
Thomas John Gumbleton is a retired Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit.-Education and career:...
, Bishop of Archdiocese of Detroit and founder of Pax Christi
Pax Christi
-History:Pax Christi was established in France in 1945 as a reconciliation work between the French and the Germans after the Second World War. In 2007, it existed in more than 60 countries...
USA, visited with Lori to work with Peruvian government officials "for her release." Berenson was visited by other religious leaders, including William Nottingham, President Emeritus of Overseas Ministries for Disciples of Christ, who after meeting with Lori stated that "She has maintained her innocence in the face of many inducements. She neither condones nor justifies violence of any kind" and that her "involvements in Latin America were motivated by her concern for social justice and her understanding of the oppression of the poor. Her humanitarian and political sympathies made her the target of an oppressive right-wing government."
Columns were written for American newspapers, such as The Washington Post and The New York Times, calling on the US to pressure Peru to free Berenson. Other writers, however, took the contrary position, including the Wall Street Journal online edition. Her parents had a short independent film made in protest against her earlier military trial, and her story was reported on several top television news shows. Her parents continued to work for her release and their website provided regular updates on Berenson's situation.
Imprisonment
Berenson spent her early years in prison at facilities high in the AndesAndes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
, the first of which the Inter-American Court ruled is operated inhumanely. The Yanamayo prison where Berenson was initially held for about three years lies at 3650 metres (11,975.1 ft) above sea level near Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca is a lake located on the border of Peru and Bolivia. It sits 3,811 m above sea level, making it the highest commercially navigable lake in the world...
in the Puno Region
Puno Region
Puno is a region in southeastern Peru. It is bordered by Bolivia on the east, the Madre de Dios Region on the north, the Cusco and Arequipa regions on the west, the Moquegua Region on the southwest, and the Tacna Region on the south...
, in southern Peru.
On 7 October 1998 Berenson was moved to another prison in Socabaya. She remained there until 31 August 2000, when she was transferred to the women's prison of Chorrillos
Chorrillos
Chorrillos is a district of the Lima Province in Peru and part of the city of Lima. It gets its name from the Spanish word for "trickle of water"...
in Lima. Then, on 21 December 2001, she was relocated to the maximum-security Huacariz Penitentiary in Cajamarca
Cajamarca
Cajamarca may refer to:Colombia*Cajamarca, Tolima a town and municipality in Tolima DepartmentPeru* Cajamarca, city in Peru.* Cajamarca District, district in the Cajamarca province.* Cajamarca Province, province in the Cajamarca region....
, 560 kilometres (348 mi) north of Lima.
In February 2002, Berenson took part in a 25-day hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
of "political prisoners" in an attempt to influence the government of Peru to improve prison conditions and revise its anti-terrorism laws. The strike ended without reaching its goals. Less than a year later, Peru revised many of those laws.
In October 2003, Berenson married Aníbal Apari Sánchez, 40, whom she had met in 1997 when they were both incarcerated at Yanamayo prison. Apari Sánchez was convicted of being a member of the MRTA. When released in 2003 on conditional liberty (parole) in Lima, his travel was restricted. Due to this, he was not present at the wedding in Cajamarca and had to be represented by his father. Later, her husband was allowed conjugal visits. Apari Sánchez is now a practicing attorney in Lima and directs a non-governmental organization (NGO) that assists individuals formerly imprisoned on charges of assisting or being members of the MRTA in their rehabilitation into society. He is also co-founder of a political party, Patria Libre, that intends to participate in the 2011 national elections.
From 2003 through 2008 Berenson worked in and co-managed the bakery at Huacariz Prison which served the inmate population and the Cajamarca community.
Periodically, through her website page entitled "Lori's Words," Berenson issues advice to youth as well as criticism of the policies of the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
and the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
, the war in Iraq, the "American Way of Life," the Peruvian "political class," and alleged maltreatment and torture of prisoners. Berenson's commentaries on capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
, globalism
Globalism
Globalism can have at least two different and opposing meanings. One meaning is the attitude or policy of placing the interests of the entire world above those of individual nations...
, and alleged environmental destruction caused by mining companies have also appeared on the Internet.
In addition, her commentaries are read on Prison Radio
Prison Radio
The Prison Radio Project is a San Francisco-based radio and activist project that produces the commentaries of several prisoners considered to be political prisoners, most notably Mumia Abu-Jamal. Multiple radio stations across the United States broadcast these commentaries...
.
On 16 September 2008, her father announced that she was pregnant with her first child.
In January 2009, Berenson was transferred to a prison in Lima due to a serious back problem which complicated her pregnancy. In May 2009, she gave birth to a boy, whom she named Salvador, and who lived with her while she was in prison. In Peru, children are allowed to remain with their incarcerated mothers until age 3.
Release and reimprisonment
Peru's Justice Minister Victor Garcia Toma on May 3, 2010 stated that "I don't think Lori Berenson can create harm for society, but she has created anger among citizens," and recommended that the remaining 5 years of her sentence be commuted and that she be expelled from Peru to the U.S., indicating that his recommendation was based on a legal and political analysis of the circumstances.On May 25, 2010, after serving 15 years, Berenson was granted a conditional release, with the judge stating that she would have to remain in Peru on parole for the remaining five years of her sentence, but would be freed from prison. Berenson's attorneys submitted documents to the court indicating that she "recognized she committed errors" by associating herself with the MRTA. She was freed two days later, a release which attracted a media circus. She was driven to an apartment in the upscale Miraflores area of Lima, where her new neighbors welcomed her by shouting "terrorist" at her. Berenson's parents indicated that she will separate from Apari and raise her son, Salvador as a single mother. Peru's Minister of Justice, Victor Garcia, stated that the Cabinet may commute Berenson's sentence and expel her from the country.
With protesters gathering daily outside her Lima apartment building, lighting candles and demanding that she be deported from Peru, Berenson sent a letter to President Alan Garcia admitting her "criminal responsibility for terrorist collaboration" and further writing “I would also like to say that I very much regret the harm I have caused Peruvian society, and I ask forgiveness from people who have been affected by my actions or words.” She then requested that her sentence be commuted so she can return to the United States.
On June 8, 2010, former U.S. president Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, speaking while on a visit to Peru, expressed his support for Berenson's release, stating "I'm glad Lori Berenson was released ... when I was president, I worked for that."
Peru’s state attorney for counter-terrorism, Julio Galindo, appealed Berenson's parole, depicting her as a calculating, unrepentant extremist who posed a continuing threat to the Peruvian public. On August 16, 2010 Berenson appeared before the appeals court to request she be allowed to remain free on parole. In responding to Galindo's allegations, she stated that she was not a threat to society:
"... I was sentenced for the crime of collaboration with terrorism, and I did collaborate with the MRTA. I have never been a leader, nor a militant. I have never participated in acts of violence nor of bloodshed, nor have I killed anyone. And what I would like to clarify here is that I know that my mere participation, even though it was secondary in one incident, if it contributed to the violence in society, I am deeply sorry and I regret it ... I was in prison for almost 15 years. I have reflected a great deal over it, and I understand that violence did harm to society; I understand it and I regret that I participated in it. I believe that things, a better society, are achieved by building and not by destroying ...
"Also, I have a different vision of life. It has been almost 15 years. I am now a 40-year-old woman. I left home when I was young. But I have a family who have sacrificed everything for me, and I would like to pay them back somehow. And more than that, I have a child, a 15-month-old son and he is a child I would like to be close to, like any mother. I would like to bring up my son to be a good man. That is now my objective."
"
On 18 August 2010 the appeals court annulled Berenson's parole and returned her to prison while technical aspects of the parole were considered.
On November 8, 2010, Berenson was again released on parole.
In January 2011, an appeals court rejected a prosecutor's attempt to revoke her parole. Berenson and her attorney told reporters that the ruling is final and cannot be appealed by prosecutors, ending eight months of legal uncertainty.
Constitutional law expert Mario Amoretti, while agreeing that the ruling should be final, remarked that the state conceivably could file a challenge, claiming some constitutional violation, but he said he didn't see grounds for such an appeal. Berenson must remain in Peru on supervised parole until her 20-year sentence ends in 2015, unless the sentence is commuted by the President. When he was President, Alan Garcia said he would consider a commutation only after the legal case had run its course.