By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

              LIMA, Peru (AP) -- New York native Lori Berenson told a court that ``I am not a
              terrorist'' on Wednesday in a final bid to win acquittal on charges she had ties to a guerrilla
              group planning an assault on Peru's Congress.

              "I consider these charges haven't been proven, neither in the military nor the civilian
              court,'' the 31-year-old former Massachusetts Institute of Technology student said in a
              closing statement hours before an expected verdict by the three-judge panel.

              Berenson, who describes herself as a prisoner of conscience, was sentenced to life
              in prison for treason by a secret Peruvian military court in 1996. The U.S.
              government argued her secret trial was unfair. After years of pressure the conviction
              was overturned, and she was granted a new trial by a civilian court on the lesser
              charge of ``terrorist collaboration'' and ``illicit association.''

              The prosecution has asked for a 20-year sentence.

              There is little sympathy for Berenson in Peru, which still remembers the bloody war
              against leftist rebels that wound down in the early 1990s.

              Justice Minister Diego Garcia Sayan said the government would respect the verdict
              and that Berenson would serve out any sentence in Peru -- dimming hopes that she
              could receive a presidential pardon even if she is convicted.

              A spokesman for President-elect Alejandro Toledo, who takes office July 28, said
              he had no immediate comment on whether he might consider a pardon. But the
              spokesman said Toledo might discuss the matter on a trip to the United States next
              week to seek economic aid.

              Berenson has served more than five years in Andean jails after the military convicted
              her for allegedly plotting a thwarted raid on Congress by the Tupac Amaru
              Revolutionary Movement, or MRTA.

              Wednesday's proceeding capped a high-profile trial in which Berenson adamantly
              proclaimed her innocence and criticized Peru's judicial system.

              Berenson was led into the courtroom in San Juan de Lurigancho prison, flanked by
              two female guards in bulletproof vests. She wore a beige jacket and a gray
              turtleneck, with wire-rimmed glasses perched on her nose. Journalists and her
              supporters filled the room.

              After Berenson's 45-minute closing statement, Mark Berenson flashed a peace sign
              with his fingers and said he believed in his daughter's innocence.

              ``She loves Peru, she loves justice. If there is justice in this country, this court will
              acquit her,'' he said.

              Mark Berenson and wife Rhoda, who both attended the hearing, have fought a long
              battle to free their daughter. They have made powerful allies in the U.S. Congress.

              Peru had hoped Berenson's retrial would showcase how much its justice system has
              improved since the end of President Alberto Fujimori's 10-year autocratic rule in
              November.

              Fujimori declared emergency rule in the early 1990s to fight powerful leftist
              guerrillas. He set up a system of hooded, anonymous military judges who dished out
              tough sentences to suspected guerrillas in trials widely criticized as lacking due
              process.

              Berenson said she was used by Fujimori as a ``smoke screen'' to make himself
              appear tough on terrorism.

              ``They used me as a symbol of political violence and of terrorism for more than five
              years,'' she said Wednesday. ``I did not deserve this type of label.''

              Berenson complained that the civilian court was still applying the same draconian
              anti-terrorism laws decreed by Fujimori in 1992.

              ``This is a political trial,'' Berenson said. ``Where is the presumption of innocence?''

              Peruvian prosecutors argue there is solid evidence of her guilt.

              Berenson arrived in Peru after working as a personal secretary to a Salvadoran
              rebel leader during peace negotiations that ended El Salvador's civil war in 1992.
              She has described herself as a social activist caught up in circumstances beyond her
              control.

              Much of the prosecution's case rested on testimony from Pacifico Castrellon, a
              Panamanian who came to Peru with Berenson in late 1994.

              Castrellon testified that he and Berenson met with, and took cash from, MRTA
              leaders in Ecuador before settling in Lima several weeks later. He said one of the
              contacts was Nestor Cerpa, the top MRTA commander.

              Berenson, who denied the meeting ever took place, has acknowledged that she and
              Castrellon rented the house used by MRTA guerrillas as a hideout. But she said she
              did not know her housemates were rebels.

              Prosecutors say Berenson posed as a journalist to enter Peru's legislature several
              times in 1995 to gather information. She was accompanied by Cerpa's wife, who
              acted as her photographer. Berenson, who was accredited by two left-leaning U.S.
              magazines but never published, insists she was researching articles about women
              and poverty.

              Berenson and Cerpa's wife were arrested hours before a military assault on a rebel
              safehouse that left three rebels and one police officer dead.

              Police say rebels had moved into the top floor of the house, where they were
              creating a plan to seize Congress and hold the members hostage in exchange for
              imprisoned comrades.

              Berenson moved out of the house three months before her arrest and said she knew
              nothing about activities on the top floor of the house, where police discovered 8,000
              rounds of ammunition and dynamite.

              Other evidence allegedly seized from the house included a coded floor plan of
              Congress allegedly scrawled by Berenson. There was also a forged Peruvian
              election ID card bearing her photo. She suggested they were planted by police.

              The MRTA is named for an Inca ruler who led an Indian revolt against the Spanish
              colonists in the 1730s. The group is blamed for the deaths of some 200 people since
              it took up arms in 1984.