Indonesia police deny violence in death of Harvard trans activist on Bali honeymoon

JAKARTA, Aug 25 (Reuters) – Indonesian police on Thursday denied accusations of violence from the household of a Harvard College transgender activist who died after being arrested on his honeymoon on the vacationer island of Bali.

Rodrigo Ventosilla, 32, from Peru was detained by customs police when he arrived along with his new husband, additionally Peruvian, his household mentioned in a press release this week on Instagram, accusing Bali authorities of “police violence … racial discrimination and transphobia”.

A Bali police spokesman instructed Reuters that Ventosilla had been beneath investigation for drug offences after suspected cannabis-derived merchandise had been present in his baggage.

Two days after he was arrested, Ventosilla was rushed to hospital and died on Aug. 11 due to “failure of bodily features”, mentioned police spokesman Stefanus Satake Bayu Setianto.

Bayu mentioned that Ventosilla fell unwell after ingesting medicine that was not a part of the gadgets confiscated by police.

Ventosilla’s household mentioned they didn’t know the reason for his loss of life however mentioned he was denied entry to authorized defence and data. Police spokesman Bayu didn’t reply these accusations nor these of transphobia, however mentioned there had been no violence and the case was now closed.

College students and college on the Harvard Kennedy Faculty, the place Ventosilla was finding out, echoed the household’s requires an investigation, the Harvard Crimson newspaper reported.

Ventosilla was a founding member of the Peruvian trans rights group Diversidades Trans Masculinas and was pursuing a grasp’s diploma in public administration, the Crimson reported.

His husband had returned to Peru, his household’s assertion mentioned.

Peru’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs mentioned in a Wednesday assertion that it had requested Indonesian authorities to strictly comply with “the human rights of its two nationals” however added that the unique detention “doesn’t correspond with acts of racial discrimination or transphobia”.

Ventosilla’s household has known as on the Peruvian international ministry to do a extra thorough investigation.

Indonesia has among the many area’s harshest anti-narcotics legal guidelines, with penalties together with capital punishment.

Reporting by Stanley Widianto; Enhancing by Kanupriya Kapoor and Nick Macfie

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