Peru Grants Berenson Civilian Trial

L I M A, Peru, Aug. 29, 2000 -- More than four years after hooded militaryjudges convicted American Lori Berenson of planning a rebel attack— raising an outcry from Washington — Peru’s military overturnedher life sentence and cleared the way for a new, civilian trial,officials said Monday.

The 30-year-old New York native was found guilty of treason bythe secret tribunal in January 1996 for allegedly helping the TupacAmaru Revolutionary Movement plan an attack on Peru’s Congress. Theattack was foiled by Peruvian authorities.

The tribunal released a statement to The Associated Press sayingthat Berenson’s sentence was overturned on Aug. 18 and her case waspassed to a civilian court on Thursday.

First public word of the decision came earlier in the day in astatement from Berenson’s defense attorney, Grimaldo Achahui, onRadioprogramas, Peru’s leading station. He said she would remainimprisoned pending the new trial.

“We have fought to the last moment so that she would be judgedin a civilian court where she will avail of due process with allguarantees of a right to a defense,” Achahui said. “This does notsignify that she will be granted liberty.”

Diplomatic Sore Thumb

Berenson’s case has been a sore point in U.S. relations withPeru. Washington has repeatedly pressed for a new trial, saying thesecret nature of the court violated her rights. The U.S. governmenthas also criticized as too harsh the living conditions she hasreportedly been held under in Peruvian prisons.

“We have maintained that the trial proceedings against her didnot meet due process standards,” said U.S. Embassy spokesmanDouglas Barnes.

The decision came despite the insistence by President AlbertoFujimori that Berenson, a former Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology student, is a terrorist and will remain in prison.

There was no immediate comment by Fujimori’s administrationabout the move. After the announcement, he canceled a schedulednews conference.

Her parents have also led a campaign for her release that hasraised international concern over the case.

Father Speaks Out

“Peru has now admitted that Lori Berenson was not a leader ofthe MRTA. It knows she was not even a member,” her father, MarkBerenson, said at a news conference in New York. “There is nobasis in truth, or law, for holding Lori another day.”

Also at the conference was her mother, Rhoda, and their legaladviser in the case, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.

“A fair trial on the charge of terrorism and on those of thelesser charges, is impossible,” said Clark.

During her first three years of her sentence, Berenson was heldin the frigid Yanamayo prison, 12,700 feet above sea level in theAndes. Her parents said she frequently complained of sickness untilshe was finally transferred to Socabaya prison, 465 miles southeastof Lima.

Though Berenson has maintained her innocence, Peruvians caughtin the crossfire of rebel violence during the 1980s and early 1990shave a difficult time sympathizing with her. She has been vilifiedby government officials and the media for her alleged involvementwith the rebels — a violent leftist group best known for itsinvasion of the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Lima in December1996.

The rebels held 72 hostages for four months before Fujimoriordered a bold rescue that saved all but one of the hostages. Allof the guerrillas were killed.

Courtroom Spectacle

Before her conviction, Berenson was presented to the news mediain a wild spectacle during which she angrily screamed support forPeru’s poor and shouted, “There are no criminal terrorists in theMRTA,” referring to the rebel group. “It is a revolutionarymovement.”

The statement was considered by most Peruvians to be anadmission of guilt.

Berenson and her supporters have maintained that she was notallowed to present evidence at her trial or to question prosecutionwitnesses.

The government maintains that secret military proceedings withhooded judges were necessary during Peru’s bloody battle withleftist rebels because civilian courts were releasing too manysuspects and judges feared reprisals. The practice was abolished inlate 1997.

Peru’s internal war against leftist rebels reduced dramaticallyin intensity after the capture of top rebel leaders in 1992, butmore than 3,000 convicted rebels remain in Peru’s prisons.

Magazine Investigation

Berenson’s case was the subject of an in-depth investigativestory in The Nation magazine’s Sept. 4 edition, which appearedMonday on the U.S.-based publication’s Web page.

Drawing on never-before released Peruvian police documentsobtained by the magazine, in collaboration with Peruvianjournalists, the article claimed that the case against Berenson washastily thrown together based on the uncorroborated testimony of alone witness whose version was never challenged.

Although The Nation article acknowledges strong circumstantialevidence that Berenson was closely associated with the rebel group,it asserted that little strong evidence existed that Berenson wasan MRTA leader or member.

Fujimori has faced increasing pressure to reform Peru’s damageddemocracy since his highly questioned re-election in May, which wasmarred by irregularities and accusations of fraud. For years,reforming Peru’s judiciary has been high on the list of humanrights groups.