Tuesday, June 20, 2017

"Within a day the countenance of his face changed – he was at peace."

Merrit Kennedy reports at NPR,
Otto Warmbier, a U.S. citizen who was freed last week after more than a year in North Korean detention, has died. Doctors who examined him after his return to said he had "extensive loss of tissue" in all parts of his brain.

Warmbier, 22, had been in a coma since coming home to the United States last week.

His parents, Fred and Cindy Warmbier, said in a statement that their son died on Monday afternoon. "Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today," they said.

"When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13th he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable – almost anguished," the family said. "Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed – he was at peace."

They added: "He was home and we believe he could sense that."

...Warmbier's family described him as a "warm, engaging brilliant young man whose curiosity and enthusiasm for life knew no bounds."

President Trump offered condolences to the Warmbier family in a statement, saying that "Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency."
Read more here.

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