Court Refuses to Reconsider Berenson Case
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) - The Inter-American Court of Human Rights Tuesday refused a request by American Lori Berenson to review its ruling that upheld her 20-year sentence in Peru for terrorism. In a decision issued in November, the Costa Rica-based court - the legal arm of the Organization of American States - rejected Berenson's arguments that Peru violated her rights in a 2001 civilian retrial. It was Berenson's last formal avenue of appeal.
The former New York City resident has denied any wrongdoing and maintains she is a political prisoner whose concern for social justice was distorted by authorities to look like a terrorist agenda.
It was a put up job, including the guns in the house in which she lived with her terrorist boyfriend. And his terrorist compatriots. And the terrorist manuals and leaflets. And the explosives. | Berenson was arrested in November 1995 and sentenced to life without parole by a secret military court, which said she was a leader of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement and masterminded a thwarted takeover of Peru's Congress to exchange hostages for imprisoned rebels.
Under intense non-governmental U.S. pressure, Peru overturned the sentence in August 2000 and sent her case to a civilian anti-terrorism court, which found her guilty of the lesser crime of terrorist collaboration. She is scheduled for release in November 2015, a few weeks after her 46th birthday.
Posted by: Steve White 2005-08-11 |