Defiant Activist Defends Guerrillas American Could Face 30 Years In Peruvian Prison For Treason
Angry and defiant, an American rights activist on Monday defended the guerrilla group she is accused of helping, calling it a revolutionary movement that fights for justice.
Lori Berenson, 26, could face 30 years in prison if convicted of treason for allegedly belonging to the pro-Cuban Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement - known in Peru by its acronym, MRTA.
“If it is a crime to worry about the inhuman condition in which the majority of this population lives, I will accept my punishment,” Berenson said in her first appearance before reporters since her arrest.
She denied MRTA was a terrorist organization.
“I love this nation,” Berenson said at the headquarters of Lima’s anti-terrorism police. “And although this love is going to cause me years in prison, I will never stop loving it. And I will never lose the hope and confidence that tomorrow there will be justice in Peru.”
Berenson was arrested Nov. 30 a few hours before a siege of an MRTA hideout in an affluent Lima neighborhood. Three rebels and a policeman were killed in the shootout.
The siege of the guerrilla safe house reportedly foiled rebel plans to seize Congress and take congressmen as hostages to gain the freedom of imprisoned guerrilla leaders.
The small rebel group started fighting Peru’s elected government in 1984 but was weakened eight years later when its leaders were captured. Never considered a threat to government security, the MRTA is believed to have only a few hundred armed supporters left.
At Berenson’s trial, Hugo Sayer, the commander of the counterinsurgency police, read a detailed list of her alleged illegal activities - belonging to the guerrilla movement, coordinating its actions, helping distribute arms, renting property for the group to use and keeping contacts with illegal foreign arms merchants.
The list of crimes seemed designed to counter criticism that a foreigner should not be charged with treason.
Francisco Soberon, director of the Peruvian Human Rights Association, said Berenson and a Panamanian accused in the same case should instead be tried for terrorism, which carries a lesser penalty.
“They shouldn’t be tried for treason against the country, because they are not Peruvians,” Soberon said.
Berenson is being tried by a “faceless” military judge who hides his identity behind a screen to protect himself from reprisals.
A military prosecutor has asked she be given the minimum sentence, 30 years in prison.
The maximum sentence for treason is life.
The verdict in the trial, which is closed to the public, is expected to be announced this week.