Lori Berenson is a 35-year-old woman from New York who has been in prison in Peru since 1996 for allegedly conspiring with Peruvian revolutionaries, known as MRTA, (Movimiento Revoluncionario Tupac Amaru). Lori Berenson was twice convicted in Peru, first by judges who shrouded themselves in hoods, and then again in a slightly more open proceeding. Her second trial still lacked adequate due process rights, as unanimously determined by the Costa Rica based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. However, in a subsequent decision on appeal, handed down in December 2004, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, also based in Costa Rica, affirmed Lori’s 20-year prison sentence. In this program, Kristen Gardner, a friend and supporter of Lori Berenson since they first met at students in Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983, discusses Lori, the person she is, and her case.
Kristen Gardiner recommends “Hope in the Dark,” by Rebecca Solnit.
Originally Broadcast: January 25, 2005
Barry Vogel, Esq. is the host and producer. Ignacio Ayala is the assistant producer.
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Thank you for listening. Barry Vogel, Host and Producer