The parents of Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia student who died after he was held captive in North Korea for more than year, have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against North Korea, saying the rogue regime “brutally tortured and murdered” their son.
Fred and Cindy Warmbier filed the 22-page complaint in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday, 10 months after Otto Warmbier, 22, was released to the U.S. from captivity. He was unresponsive and had severe brain damage and died days later.
“Otto was taken hostage, kept as a prisoner for political purposes, used as a pawn and singled out for exceptionally harsh and brutal treatment by Kim Jong Un,” Fred Warmbier said in a statement. “Kim and his regime have portrayed themselves as innocent, while they intentionally destroyed our son’s life. This lawsuit is another step in holding North Korea accountable for its barbaric treatment of Otto and our family.”
It’s extremely difficult to successfully sue a foreign nation, but there are some options for doing so under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, a law the Warmbiers cited in their complaint.
In their lawsuit, Fred and Cindy Warmbier said their son endured “torture, extreme emotional distress and mental anguish, and other mistreatment at the hands of North Korea.”
Otto Warmbier was detained at the Pyongyang Sunan International Airport in January 2016 and subsequently sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for allegedly committing a “hostile act” against North Korea. Security footage had emerged allegedly showing Otto Warmbier trying to steal a banner hanging in his Pyongyang hotel.
The Trump administration secured the student’s release last year, and he returned to the U.S. in June, nearly 18 months after he was detained. A State Department official warned Fred and Cindy Warmbier their son was in a coma and had been for a year. Upon his arrival in Cincinnati, Ohio, the couple also found Otto Warmbier was deaf and blind, according to court filings.
“He had a shaved head, a feeding tube coming out of his nose, was jerking violently and howling, and was completely unresponsive to any of their efforts to comfort him,” the lawsuit states.
Doctors concluded Otto Warmbier was severely brain damaged and his condition “unrecoverable.” They also determined his “extensive loss of brain tissue was caused by an earlier hypoxic-ischemic brain injury caused by the cessation or severe reduction of blood flow to the brain.”
North Korea alleged Otto Warmbier contracted botulism and was given a sleeping pill. But doctors found no evidence of botulism or lasting nerve damage, according to the complaint.
He died on June 19, less than a week after returning home.
“Otto’s tragic death was directly and proximately caused by and was a direct and foreseeable result of the torture and mistreatment that North Korea and its agents inflicted upon Otto,” the lawsuit states.
Fred and Cindy Warmbier are seeking monetary damages in an amount determined by the court as a result of his mistreatment, including his family’s pain and suffering.
President Trump has pointed to Otto Warmbier’s death as an example of the brutality of the rogue regime and the threat it poses to the U.S.
Fred and Cindy Warmbier appeared as guests of the president at his State of the Union in January, and in February, Fred Warmbier traveled with Vice President Mike Pence as part of the U.S. delegation to the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
The lawsuit from the Warmbiers comes ahead of the president’s historic summit with Kim, which is expected to take place in May or June.
