New Yorker jailed for life in Peru

New Yorker jailed for life in Peru

Lima - A Peruvian military court on Thursday sentenced a New York woman to life imprisonment for aiding Marxist guerrillas, her lawyer said. Grimaldo Achahui said Lori Berenson, 26, who had entered the country as a journalist, was convicted of treason by a military judge for assisting the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA). He said he had filed an immediate appeal, asserting that the charge was inappropriate because Ms Berenson is not a Peruvian citizen. She should have been charged with terrorism, Mr Achahui said. The military prosecutor in the secret trial had sought a 30-year sentence. Reuter