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<h1><font size=4><b>American Lori Berenson freed from Peru
prison</b></font></h1><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/american-lori-berenson-freed-733630.html?cxtype=rss_news_60046" eudora="autourl">
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/american-lori-berenson-freed-733630.html?cxtype=rss_news_60046<br>
<br>
</a>By CARLA SALAZAR <br><br>
The Associated Press <br><br>
LIMA, Peru American activist Lori Berenson walked free from a Peruvian
prison Monday for the second time after serving three-quarters of a
20-year sentence for collaborating with leftist rebels.<br><br>
US citizen Lori Berenson, left, puts her fingerprint on a document at a
courthouse in Lima, Peru, Friday, Nov. 5, 2010. A Peruvian judge granted
parole to Berenson after 15 years in prison for aiding leftist rebels.
(AP Photo/Karel Navarro) <br><br>
The 40-year-old New York woman and her lawyer and husband, Anibal Apari,
were seen arriving at the Lima apartment where she plans to
live.<br><br>
"I will not be making any statements at this time," Berenson
told reporters.<br><br>
Apari told CPN radio that Berenson was "once again trying to adjust,
and organizing her things" at the residence, where she plans to
spend her time working and studying.<br><br>
Hours earlier, Berenson's 18-month-old son left the jail, where he had
been staying with his mother, in the arms of his grandmother Rhoda
Berenson.<br><br>
Berenson was initially paroled in May, but then was returned to prison in
mid-August on a technicality. The same judge who first freed Berenson
reinstated her parole Friday.<br><br>
Her legal troubles are not over, however.<br><br>
The former Massachusetts Institute of Technology student must remain in
Peru until her full sentence is served unless President Alan Garcia
decides to <a href="http://g.ajc.com/r/DW/">commute</a> it.<br><br>
Garcia has indicated he will not consider a decision until all of the
legal issues in the case have been resolved, which means Berenson could
be stuck in the South American nation for some time.<br><br>
Meanwhile, prosecutor Julio Galindo has vowed to appeal the parole order,
saying it is his duty to protect Peruvian society and Berenson's case
could establish a precedent for others convicted of terrorism-related
crimes to argue that they, too, should go free.<br><br>
"Our goal is to achieve the revocation" of Berenson's parole,
Galindo said Monday. "This is a very sensitive matter for the
country."<br><br>
Apari said previously it could take two to three months for the appeal to
be resolved.<br><br>
Berenson was arrested in 1995 and accused of helping the leftist Tupac
Amaru Revolutionary Movement plan an armed takeover of Congress. The
takeover never happened, but prosecutors said that among other things,
Berenson had helped the group to rent a safe house.<br><br>
A military court convicted her the following year and sentenced her to
life in prison for sedition, but she was retried by a civilian court in
2001 and sentenced to 20 years for terrorist collaboration.<br><br>
Berenson was completely unrepentant at the time of her arrest but
softened during years of sometimes harsh prison conditions, eventually
being praised as a model prisoner.<br><br>
In May, she apologized to Peruvians in a letter for any hurt she may have
caused.<br><br>
Yet she is viewed by many Peruvians as a symbol of the rebel violence
that afflicted the nation two decades ago. Many people remain traumatized
by the 1980-2000 conflict that claimed 80,000 lives. In that conflict,
the fanatical Maoist Shining Path movement did most of the killing, while
Tupac Amaru was a minor player.<br><br>
Berenson denies ever belonging to Tupac Amaru or engaging in violent
acts.<br><br>
In August, when she was returned to prison, Berenson said in an interview
with three Lima-based journalists that her case had become a political
football with presidential elections due in April.<br><br>
Berenson's new neighbors protested vehemently the first time she was
released and showed up at her apartment in the Miraflores area, but there
was no immediate outcry from them Monday evening.<br><br>
___<br><br>
November 08, 2010 07:34 PM EST <br><br>
Copyright 2010, The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.<br><br>
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