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Wednesday, November 30, 2005<br><br>
To Friends and Supporters of Lori Berenson:<br><br>
LORI COMPLETES 10 YEARS OF WRONGFUL INCARCERATION<br><br>
It is hard to believe that Lori has completed 10 years of unjust<br>
imprisonment - 3, 653 days of her life. In the worst-case scenario
she<br>
has served half her 20 year sentence.<br><br>
LORI'S STATEMENT AIRED ON RADIO<br><br>
To commemorate this tenth anniversary Lori wrote a statement that
has<br>
been broadcast in both English and Spanish and is expected to be
aired<br>
today on Democracy Now
(<a href="http://www.democracynow.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.democracynow.org</a>) and on Free Speech Radio<br>
News (<a href="http://www.fsrn.org/" eudora="autourl">www.fsrn.org</a>)
on independent radio stations across the country.<br><br>
Special thanks to Noelle Hanrahan of
<a href="http://www.prisonradio.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.prisonradio.org</a> and to the<br>
Northern California coordinators of the Committee to Free Lori
Berenson<br>
for making this possible.<br><br>
A copy of the press release along with Lori's written statement as
well<br>
as the links to the broadcasts in English and Spanish appear on the<br>
homepage of the
<a href="http://www.freelori.org/" eudora="autourl">www.freelori.org</a>
Website.<br><br>
<br>
My name is Lori Berenson. I am a New York born and raised political
prisoner in Perú. I have spent many years in Central and South America,
trying to contribute to the efforts of those who seek social justice for
all. I continue this work from prison. <br><br>
On November 30, 1995, I was pulled off of a public bus in Lima, Perú.
Like thousands of Peruvians, I was detained by the anti-terrorist police,
tried for treason by a hooded military tribunal under draconian
anti-terrorism laws and condemned to life in prison. <br><br>
This all occurred in the context of an internal conflict in Perú that
began in the early 1980's with the armed insurgence of the Peruvian
Communist Party, also known as the Shining Path, and later with the Tupac
Amaru Revolutionary Movement - the MRTA. This conflict had parallels with
other conflicts that occurred in much of Latin America. <br><br>
When I was arrested, Peruvian President Fujimori made me a symbol for his
anti-terrorist campaign. His ability to use the media for his own
publicity purposes led to my case being very high profile. <br><br>
Because of the tireless efforts of my family, friends and many others in
the US and elsewhere in the world, the Fujimori regime was forced to
bring my case to a civilian anti-terrorist court in 2000. During the
period of the falling of the Fujimori regime and the formation of a
transitional government in 2001, I received a new trial and was sentenced
to 20 years for collaboration with terrorism. A year and a half later,
the anti-terrorism legislation was modified slightly and those
incarcerated under it began to receive new trials. In 2004, in light of
the international anti-terrorism campaign in our post 9/11 world and
under extreme pressure from Perú's political class, the Inter-American
Court of Human Rights ratified my sentence. <br><br>
The details of what happened to me are irrelevant in the broader picture
of the thousands of Peruvians who have been killed, disappeared, tortured
and detained during the internal conflict. Since history has always been
re-written by those who have the upper-hand, the issue of subversion
became the scapegoat for all of Perú's problems. <br><br>
In all parts of the world, symbolic culprits are used to obscure the root
causes of social discontent, to distract attention and distort realities
when any group of people questions the existing order. <br><br>
The world order, especially in this era of globalized capitalism is
designed to benefit a powerful few at the expense of the majority of our
world's peoples. This system is unjust, immoral, terrifying, and just
plain insane. We must change it. <br><br>
People all over the world are imprisoned today and suffering tremendous
injustices for challenging this order. I express my solidarity with all
of those prisoners, and in particular my admiration for those whose
courage we can hear in the voice of Mumia Abu Jamal, in the writings
about Leonard Peltier, in the struggle for the liberation of Puerto Rico,
and many others. The dignity demonstrated throughout long years of
struggle and resistance under one of the harshest jail regimes on earth
is an example for all prisoners and for human beings in general.
<br><br>
For prisoners, the struggle for basic dignity is a daily plight. Prisons
are just a smaller version of the general system that operates in this
world, and that is what is wrong. The desire to change it is why many of
us are here in the first place. It is a worthy cause to be behind bars
for. <br><br>
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(415) 863-9977<br>
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