Otto Warmbier: Tortured to death or tragic accident?

The parents of Otto Warmbier, the US student who died after being sent home from a North Korean prison in a coma earlier this year, have claimed their son was the victim of extreme torture at the hands of his captors.

The 22-year-old died six days after he being released on medical grounds and transported back to the US, following six months in North Korean custody.

It was commonly reported at the time that Warmbier arrived home in a coma, but Warmbier’s father said that was an inaccurate description of his son’s state.

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“He was moving around, and jerking violently, making these howling and inhuman sounds,” Fred Warmbier told CNN, saying his son displayed symptoms of “severe brain damage” and injuries consistent with torture.

Otto’s hands and legs were “totally deformed”, he said, and “it looked like someone had taken a pair of pliers and rearranged his bottom teeth”.

For the Warmbiers, the conclusion is clear: “Otto was systematically tortured and intentionally injured by Kim and his regime… This was no accident.”

However, doubts have been raised in the US press about the seeming discrepancies between the family’s account of Otto’s physical condition and the coroner’s report into the death.

An examination by the Ohio medical examiner’s office said Warmbier’s body appeared “well-nourished”, with no physical abnormalities beyond some minor scars of indeterminate age, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

Specifically, the report described his teeth as “natural and in good repair”.

The coroner’s report concluded that the cause of death was severe brain damage arising from an unknown instance of oxygen deprivation.

In a case like this, a full-scale autopsy would normally be carried out to provide more details on the cause of death, but at the request of the Warmbiers no autopsy was performed.

Warmbier was arrested in January 2016 after apparently attempting remove a propaganda sign from a hotel for international visitors in Pyongyang. He was later sentenced to 15 years of hard labour.

Nothing is known of exactly what transpired between the end of his trial and his return to the US three months later.

However, “any number of factors could be behind the deterioration in Warmbier’s health during his time in prison,” says The Guardian, including “poor hygienic conditions, malnutrition or lack of proper medical care”.

The North Korean government claim that Warmbier contracted botulism while in custody and then slipped into a coma after taking a sleeping pill. They strenuously deny any mistreatment, and have described the student’s sudden death as “a mystery to us as well”.