Lima , Peru ( CNN ) -- Lori Berenson , a U.S. citizen jailed in Peru since 1995 for helping leftist rebels , has been granted conditional release , a judge announced . Berenson has served nearly 15 years of a 20-year sentence for aiding Peruvian rebels in a 1995 plot to overthrow Peru 's Congress . Judge Jessica Leon Yarango made the announcement Tuesday in a televised court hearing after Berenson 's lawyer , Anibal Apari Sanchez , made the request . Apari , a Lima lawyer and candidate for mayor of a Lima suburb called Villa El Salvador , is also Berenson 's husband from whom she is separated , according to her parents . Berenson , 40 , who last year gave birth in prison to their son , Salvador , has long maintained her innocence . Her original sentence of life in prison was reduced to 20 years on appeal . The news of her release was welcomed by her parents in New York . `` My wife Rhoda and I were ecstatic , '' Mark Berenson told CNNI . `` We were waiting for this day for 14-1/2 years . '' `` We are thrilled that it 's been determined that she 's earned her conditional liberty and that she and her baby , Salvador , will be able to take their first steps in freedom soon . '' He said his daughter applied for the conditional liberty , which he referred to as parole , in September . `` The process took many months because they had to check on her work records and conduct records in all the prisons that she 's been in since 1995 . '' He said she had been working seven days a week co-managing a prison bakery for more than five years in order to shave time from her sentence . On the Web site freelori.org , the Berensons said their daughter and her son will be leaving prison `` in a few days '' and plan to move to an apartment in Lima , because parole requires they remain in the city in which they were incarcerated . `` We do not know if there are exceptions for foreigners or whether Lori will be permitted to travel to the U.S. while on parole , '' they wrote . `` Lori will be a single mom -- Anibal and Lori are legally separated but remain friends and both share concerns for Salvador 's proper upbringing , '' they wrote . `` Salvador , now an active 1-year-old boy , will certainly enjoy the opportunity to run around outside the confines of the prison . He is learning both English and Spanish but babbles continuously in 'unknown tongue . ' He is a very happy child and loves to be with people . '' Journalist Maria Elena Belaunde contributed to this story .
NEW : Berenson shares September boy with her lawyer . Berenson has served September of 20-year sentence . She was convicted of aiding rebels in nearly 15 years plot to overthrow Peru 's CNN . She applied for conditional liberty in 1995 , father says .