Posted on 11/21/2004 10:51:32 AM PST by crushelits
LIMA, Peru - Peru will not abide by an international human rights court ruling supporting the release of Lori Berenson (news - web sites), a New York woman imprisoned for collaborating with Marxist guerrillas, the country's foreign minister said, according to news reports Saturday.
The Inter-American Human Rights Court, the Costa Rica-based legal arm of the Organization of American States, is scheduled to deliberate Berenson's case Nov. 24-25 to decide whether she received a fair civilian retrial in 2001. Peru is an OAS member.
"If this error were made, the Peruvian state, with legal justification, would take the position of not liberating any person accused of terrorism," several newspapers quoted Foreign Minister Manuel Rodriguez saying Friday from Santiago, Chile, where he attended the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
"In no case would any disposition be observed that recommends freedom of people accused of terrorism in Peru."
Berenson, 34, was arrested in 1995 for allegedly helping the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. Former President Alberto Fujimori (news - web sites) identified her as a leader in a foiled plan to seize Peru's Congress and exchange hostages for imprisoned MRTA members.
Berenson was convicted by hooded military judges, who denied her a chance to present evidence or cross-examine witnesses. She was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
At her 2001 retrial, which came after intense U.S. pressure, she was convicted of the lesser charge of terrorist collaboration and sentenced to 20 years in prison, including time served.
But Berenson's defense team, led by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, argued that her retrial was based on Fujimori's draconian anti-terrorism laws and failed to meet international standards for due process.
Also, Berenson was improperly tried twice for the same crime, Clark said, and faced hostile judges who relied on coerced testimony and tainted evidence from the earlier military trial. Berenson has denied any wrongdoing.
Peruvian legal experts say the court could order Berenson's release, but they believed it would more likely give Peru leeway to try her for a third time — a result that last month Berenson said she also anticipated.
Her case is a touchy issue for President Alejandro Toledo, who has vowed that "no accused or convicted terrorist" will be released on his watch.
Toledo said Saturday at the APEC (news - web sites) forum in Chile he will await the court's ruling before making any decision on Berenson's fate.
Political analysts say that with his approval rating hovering around 10 percent, Toledo does not want to be labeled by opponents as soft on terrorism — particularly after the embarrassing collapse last week of a civilian retrial against Shining Path founder Abimael Guzman and his top rebel commanders.
Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.
She is a red diaper doper baby terrorist.
She is guilty and they can just keep her locked up as an object lesson to other red diapers.
She's not a 'Rat, she's a Communist. Her main defender is Ramsey Clark, who IS a Communist. The girl is very arrogant trying to play stupid over what she did, and she got caught. She's damn lucky the government didn't fry her ass. ZERO sympathy for this punk.
I didn't even realize that Hillary was out of the country.
Keep her until she rots! One less troublemaker we have to contend with here, except here, our stupid liberal judges would let her loos to cause more trouble.
There. I fixed it.
Another one as well.
If you are going to take the time to post it, why not take the time to learn the facts?
You all know how we feel when our government is pressured to release terrorist activists. And just recently we did send one or two back to Pakistan and where did they end up? Right back on the range with weapons aimed at our troops!
I agree. She made her choice. If she's tried once or twice what's the difference. She' guilty. So was the
California kid whose parents pulled strings to get him
in one of our stateside prisons. I say he made the choice, let him pay the penalty.
Another stick in the eye for the communists and their stooges on the OAS "court." Gotta love it. I hope they hold her for the full 20-year sentence.
I agree that LB deserves her 20 years, but I get the feeling that nobody on this thread knows exactly what she did to get it.
If you can't do the time, Don't Do The Crime!
No amnesty for terrorists.
I read a story about this girls parents and how they hate the US etc etc. My blood pressure rose at least 20 points after reading it.
Hopefully they will keep her another 10 years or so past her reproductive period.
Methinks she thought she could get away with crap that she could safely do in the U.S. They need to keep her locked up so she can't come here and act the same way.
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