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Peru's President Says Lori Berenson Isn't A Threat
By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 9, 2010
Modified Sep 9, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 9, 2010
Modified Sep 9, 2010
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After winning parole in May, American citizen and New York native Lori Berenson was sent back to prison in Peru, where she's spent the last 15 years for her participation in a foiled terrorist plot to take the Peruvian Congress hostage in the mid-'90s. Prosecutors claim she still has links to the Tupac Amaru rebel group that planned the attack, and a three-judge panel agreed that errors in the parole ruling justified locking Berenson up again. But during an interview with CNN, Peruvian president Alan Garcia seemed inclined to commute her sentence.
"Berenson is not a threat to Peru," Garcia said. "That's over. It's part of the past. How much can Peru really fear a woman who spent 15 years in prison? She has a little boy, and that moves me a lot." Garcia also said that while he understands many Peruvians feel Berenson should complete her 20-year term, there are other factors that must be weighed, including relations with Washington and U.S. public opinion. He would not indicate when he plans to make a decision about granting Berenson clemency, but the AP reports that he has previously said that he wanted to wait for the judicial process to run its course.
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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