LIMA — An American activist convicted of aiding leftist rebels surrendered to police yesterday after a court struck down a decision granting her parole and ordered her to return to prison, where she is to remain with her 15-month-old son for the time being.
Why is the kid being punished?
Lori Berenson, 40, was arrested by police at the US Embassy, where she had been attending a meeting about consular issues when she learned of the court’s ruling, Embassy spokesman James Fennell said.
Related: Slow Saturday Special: Berenson Headed Back to Peruvian Prison
Why didn't the Embassy just assert political asylum for her?
Oh, right, she is a 'terrorist."
“She’s calm. She is a very strong women,’’ her husband and lawyer, Anibal Apari, told reporters outside the embassy. “She is going to return to jail with her baby.’’
You mean your son, right?
The ruling by the three-judge panel of the criminal appeals court was announced two days after she appeared at a hearing, apologizing for her crime and asking the court to uphold her parole. Berenson told the court on Monday that she regrets her actions and hoped to focus on raising on her son, Salvador.
Berenson, a New Yorker, has acknowledged collaborating with the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, but said she was never a member of the group nor involved in violent acts....
Deputy Justice Minister Luis Marill called it probable that the judge could decide to free Berenson again on parole....
There was no immediate reaction from Berenson’s parents, who are from New York City and have been in Peru in recent days.
They were hoping to take her home.
I'll bet they were at the embassy when it happened.
Berenson, a former MIT student, was initially accused of being a leader of the Tupac Amaru, which bombed banks and kidnapped and killed civilians in the 1980s and 1990s.
When she was arrested in November 1995 with the wife of the group’s leader, prosecutors said Berenson was helping plot a takeover of Peru’s Congress.
She was convicted of treason by a military court in 1996 and sentenced to life. But after an intense campaign by her parents and pressure from the US government, she was retried in a civilian court. In 2001, she was convicted of the lesser crime of terrorist collaboration and sentenced to 20 years.
Can you imagine how AmeriKa would react if someone (other than Israel, of course) put pressure on its justice system?
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