Chronology of Events in Berenson Case
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Events leading up to Lori Berenson's civilian retrial for alleged involvement
in the
1995 plot by the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, or MRTA, to seize
Peru's
Congress. Berenson denies all charges.
--November 1994: Berenson arrives in Peru with Pacifico Castrellon, a Panamanian
who she says she met by chance in an art gallery in Panama City. Castrellon
would
claim their trip was arranged by the rebels and that on their way to Peru
they met
with MRTA leader Nestor Cerpa in Ecuador.
--August 1995: Berenson moves out of the house she rented months earlier
with
Castrellon and into an apartment in another part of Lima. Berenson continues
to visit
the house, but later denies any knowledge that hidden on the top floor
were more
than a dozen guerrillas and a stockpile of some 8,000 rounds of ammunition
and
thousands of sticks of dynamite.
--Nov. 30, 1995: Berenson is arrested on a bus with Cerpa's wife, Nancy
Gilvonio,
after they leave Peru's Congress. Berenson contends she hired Gilvonio,
whose real
identity she did not know, as a photographer for articles she planned to
write about
Peruvian women and poverty.
--Dec. 1, 1995: An 11-hour siege on a MRTA safehouse by security forces
ends.
Three rebels and one police officer are dead and 14 guerrillas are captured.
A
coded floor plan of Congress allegedly sketched by Berenson and a forged
Peruvian
election ID card bearing her photo are among the evidence seized.
--Jan. 8, 1996: Berenson is presented to Peru's media. She angrily shouts,
``If it is a
crime to worry about the subhuman conditions in which the majority of this
population lives, then I will accept my punishment. But this is not a love
of violence.
This is not to be a criminal terrorist because there are no criminal terrorists
in the
MRTA. It is a revolutionary movement.''
--Jan. 11, 1996: A secret military court convicts Berenson of treason and
sentences
her to life in prison without parole. During the closed trial, the judges
wear masks
and her attorney is not allowed to cross-examine witnesses.
--Dec. 17, 1996: Thirteen Tupac Amaru rebels, led by Cerpa, storm the Japanese
ambassador's residence during a social event and 72 hostages are held for
126
days. Among the rebels' demands is the release of 20 imprisoned people,
including
Berenson. Cerpa and the rebels are killed during a military assault that
rescues all
but one of the hostages.
--Aug. 28, 2000: After years of pressure from the United States, Peru's
top military
court announces it has overturned Berenson's sentence, paving the way for
a new
trial in civilian court.
--March 20, 2001: Berenson's retrial on lesser charges of ``terrorist collaboration''
and ``illicit association'' begins following months of procedural delays.
--June 20, 2001: Berenson declares her innocence in a closing statement
to the
court.