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    December 20, 2011

Former Prisoner Berenson Leaves Peru for US

   VOA News
   U.S. citizen Lori Berenson sits in a migration office in Lima December
   19, 2011. Photo: Reuters
   U.S. citizen Lori Berenson sits in a migration office in Lima December
   19, 2011.

   American Lori Berenson, who spent 15 years in prison in Peru for aiding
   Marxist insurgents, left Peru Monday on a flight bound for the United
   States. Berenson had been prevented from leaving the country Saturday
   despite being granted permission by a court to spend the holidays in
   New York with her family.
   The former prisoner said the authorities falsely accused her of
   arriving late for the Saturday flight. Her lawyer, Anibal Apari, said
   the government abused its authority.
   Berenson, 42, was paroled last year.
   When she was arrested in 1995, the former Massachusetts Institute of
   Technology student was accused of helping the Tupac Amaru leftist rebel
   group plan an armed takeover of Congress - an attack that never
   happened.
   A military court initially convicted Berenson and sentenced her to life
   in prison. The sentence was overturned in 2000 and Berenson was retried
   in a civilian court.
   Lori Berenson is a controversial figure in Peru. She has publicly
   apologized for collaborating with the rebel group, and said she was not
   a militant or a leader and did not participate in any violent acts.
   In May 2009, she gave birth to a son. The father, Apari, spent
   12-and-a-half years in prison for involvement with the rebels. Apari
   married Berenson in 2003 and had been allowed to see her in prison. The
   two are now separated.

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