Peru denies court ruling on NY woman

[colombiano]

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.


This world is going MAD. We are now at the point that ANY person who opposes capitalism and stands up against it is labeled a terrorist!

[praxis1966]

It's been that way for three years, i.e. since 9/11. Plenty of countries have used the U$'s example as an excuse try people accused of terrorism in military tribunals instead of civilian court.

Not that this is anything new in Peru, however. That government has since the days of the Fujimori presidency (beginning in the late 1980s) used hooded judges in juryless courts to convict people accused of this sort of thing. As a matter of fact, during the conflict with Sendero Luminoso, the escuadrones muertes would head up into the hills, find one sympathizer, and round up his/her whole village. Hundreds of people would be tried en masse, convicted, and executed via firing squad in the space of one afternoon. And here I thought the situation down there would improve after Fujimori's ass got tossed out of office. Silly me.

My question to you is, have you heard anything else about the Guzman case? Is there any word that he may be released?

[Tupac-Amaru]

Originally posted by [email protected] 22 2004, 02:22 AM
have you heard anything else about the Guzman case? Is there any word that he may be released?
There's some information on the Guzman case on this post

http://www.che-lives.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=30541

started by Skeptic (but it might not be the latest information).

[Skeptic]

The Facsists in Peru got a beating when Chairman Gonzalo and his comrades on trial stood up before televison cameras and pronounced their continued support of the revolution. Here is the lasted blurb on how the Peruvian state had to back off temporarily and post-pone the trial for about a month.

Peru: Trial of Chairman Gonzalo Postponed
Revolutionary Worker #1260, November 28, 2004, posted at rwor.org

As reported in the RW , on November 5 the reactionary Peruvian state began a trial of Abimael Guzman, known as Chairman Gonzalo of the Communist Party of Peru (PCP), and 17 other accused leaders, members, and supporters of the party. (See "Chairman Gonzalo on Trial in Peru," RW #1258.) This trial was set to be the opening salvo of a whole legal assault which the Peruvian state is gearing up to launch against Chairman Gonzalo. The trial was postponed on the opening day, and now Peruvian officials are reportedly saying it will not resume until at least mid-December. Read the RW and check the rwor.org website for further coverage of developments in the trial.



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[Guerrilla22]

She's a brave woman. She could have had her sentence commuted to a US prison under an existing treaty between Peru and the US, however she refused preferential treatment because she is a US citizen. The trial was a sham and presided over by a dictorial government, her case and the cases of those imprisoned through the military tribunals need to be overturned. Fujimori needs to be sent back to Peru to face charges for numerous human rights violations.