Brilio.net/en - Its a place none of us would want to be a labour camp in North Korea. But that nightmare is coming true US student Otto Frederick Warmbier after he was accused and tried, for one hour, of removing a political banner from a hotel.
The United States wasnt so pleased with the quick ruling and urges North Korea "to pardon him and to grant him special amnesty and immediate release on humanitarian grounds," Toner said.
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The University of Virginia student was arrested on January 2nd of this year as he was about to board to leave the country. He entered North Korea through a Chinese based travel agency, which had organized the trip.
The North Korean government charged him of committing a hostile act against the state and alleged that Warmbier was encouraged to commit the "hostile act" by a purported member of a church in his home state of Ohio, a secretive university organization and even the CIA.
In court, the evidence against the young man included surveillance footage and fingerprints as well as photos of the political banner.
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Warmbier didnt have another choice but to plea for mercy, saying: My brother and my sister need me. I beg that you see that I am only human." In his tearful confession, which may have been received under duress, he states: "I wish that the United States administration never manipulate people like myself in the future to commit crimes against foreign countries. I entirely beg you, the people and government of the DPRK, for your forgiveness. Please! I made the worst mistake of my life!"
His please evidently werent enough to sway the judge who sentenced him to 15 years of hard labour in a prison camp. Greg Scarlatoui, executive director for the Committee for Humans Rights in North Korea said he may be forced to work in agriculture, which happened with other American prisoners. "He may spend his day planting apple trees. It will be fairly grueling forced labor," Scarlatoui said.
Hopefully there will be a diplomatic outcome for the young athlete, who was on the deans list at his University. In the past, Americans have been released after serving shorter sentences when US diplomats got involved.