A U.S. citizen imprisoned since 1995 for supposedly aiding Peruvian rebels has been allowed to transfer to another facility due to her pregnancy.Peruvian prison officials permitted Lori Berenson to be relocated in order to treat a back ailment brought on by her pregnancy. According to Reuters a media frenzy surrounded her transfer today as she underwent a health examination before being taken to a Lima jail.
The 39-year-old is currently five months pregnant and, should she successfully give birth, will be allowed to raise the baby until its three-years-old. The father of the child is a paroled former guerilla she met in jail and married in 2003.
Berenson’s imprisonment has been a source of controversy with her supporters alleging that she was unfairly punished by a kangaroo court. Berenson’s prison sentence was originally life in jail yet that was reduced in a retrial to twenty years in prison.
In a 2000 interview with CBS News, Berenson professed her innocence:
"The charges against me are preposterous and they're obviously false," Berenson said. "I am not a terrorist by any means; quite the contrary I do not believe in any act of terrorism"…Image- AP (“Lori Berenson, of New York, is escorted in handcuffs by police as she is transferred to a different jail before undergoing a medical exam in Lima, Friday, Jan. 9, 2009.”)
"I believe in human beings," said Lori Berenson. "I believe in the rights of justice. I believe that everyone has the right to live with dignity"…
Mario Cavagnario, chief investigator in the Berenson case, claimed she was part of the (Tupac Amaru guerilla) organization. "All the people around her in Peru belong to the MRTA. In Spanish we say: Tell me who you run with and I'll tell you who you are."
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, New York Daily News, Committee to Free Lori Berenson, Reuters, CBS News, MSNBC
Innocent my ass. Her conduct upon arrest is night and day with her innocent pleadings afterwards. A conversion on the road to Damascus that would have made St. Paul blanche.
ReplyDeleteFROM; Laurence S Eraut
ReplyDeleteVladimir Montesinos stated in the tapes he made in secret, that what Lori was doing (writing as a journalist, complaints against the government of Peru) was not a crime in America, but was a crime IN PERU. Tens of thousands of simple, uneducated Indians of southern Peru were massacred and put into mass graves, simply because they protested against the government of Peru. Lori was naieve in that she believed the MRTA were simply political protestors, she did not quite understand the Spanish Language enough to know that at that time in Peru, to protest meant death for the protestors. Even now, it is a crime to protest. In America she had a right to criticize the government, however the laws of Peru do not yet allow any protest. To do so for Lori, meant long imprisonment, and from the American perspective, unjust imprisonment.
IN NO WAY WAS LORI MORE THAN A CRITIC OF THE GOVERNMENT OF PERU. LORI LOVES THE PEOPLE OF PERU. PERHAPS, WHEN SHE IS AT LAST RELEASED FROM PRISON BY THE HARSH GOVERNMENT OF PERU, THE PEOPLE WILL ASK HER TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT OF PERU. THEN AND ONLY THEN WILL THE PEOPLE OF PERU FIND SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE, AND THEN AND ONLY THEN WILL THE JUDGES OF PERU EXERCISE MERCY. LORI IS AN ANGEL OF HOPE FOR BETTER TIMES IN PERU. RIESTRA WAS THE ONLY FAIR AND JUST GOVERNOR THAT PERU HAS SEEN IN OUR LIFETIMES. LORI BERENSON WILL MAKE A BETTER PRESIDENT OF PERU THAN EVEN RIESTRA.
The Cardinal fully supported the dictator Fujimori and his use of Montesinos and his band of CROOKED JUDGES.
May God send upon Peru a mighty earthquake, greater than any earthquake ever seen. Because many in Peru know Lori is innocent of any terrorist activity, even her judges. Peru's chief prosecutor even stated that she was a "dog running with dogs"
but he had no proof other than that she had friends (dogs) who were against Fujimori. No evidence. Assumed guilt, only!
May you all in Peru await God's judgement, if He will send an earthquake TO MATCH YOUR DEEDS!
May your prayers protect your loved ones!