Otto Warmbier

Otto Frederick Warmbier (December 12, 1994 – June 19, 2017) was an American college student. He was imprisoned in North Korea from March 2016 to June 2017 after being convicted of "hostile acts" against the country.

Imprisonment
Warmbier, then 21 years old, confessed to stealing a political propaganda poster from a hotel and was sentenced to 15 years' hard labor. The United States made diplomatic efforts to seek Warmbier's release. A U.S. State Department spokesman said Warmbier's harsh sentence was a response to U.S. sanctions against North Korea for its nuclear activities. According to his father, Warmbier's confession was forced and he was abducted by the North Korean government for political purposes.

Release
Warmbier fell into a coma in North Korea and was released in June 2017, after nearly 18 months in North Korea. According to North Korean authorities, Warmbier's coma was a result of botulism and a sleeping pill, but U.S. physicians cast doubt on that claim. Warmbier arrived in Cincinnati on June 13 and was taken to University of Cincinnati Medical Center for immediate evaluation and treatment. He was diagnosed with "severe neurological injury."

His father believes that he was "terrorized and brutalized".

Death
Warmbier died on June 19, 2017, in Cincinnati, six days after his return to the United States from complications of cardiopulmonary arrest caused by botulism and sepsis. He was also suffering from pneumonia and kidney failure.

References

Category:1994 births
Category:2017 deaths
Category:American prisoners
Category:Deaths from cardiopulmonary arrest
Category:Deaths from sepsis
Category:Disease-related deaths in Ohio
Category:2010s in North Korea
Category:People from Cincinnati