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Peru probes into ‘suspicious death’, possible ‘torture’ of transgender activist in Bali
Peruvian government employs two international protocols to investigate the death of Rodrigo Ventocilla, while Balinese authorities state an openness to be ‘of service’.
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Demonstrators hold up signs during a protest to demand justice for Rodrigo Ventocilla, a Peruvian graduate student at Harvard and activist for transgender rights who died in Bali days after being detained for alleged cannabis possession along with his husband, outside Peru's foreign ministry building, in Lima on Aug. 26. (Reuters/Angel Ponce)
T
he Peruvian Public Ministry has announced a plan to open a preliminary investigation for an alleged “crime against humanity in the form of torture” by the authorities in Bali against two Peruvian transgender activists in early August.
The two activists, who went to Bali for their honeymoon, were 32-year-old Rodrigo Ventocilla and his husband Sebastian Marallano. Upon arrival on Aug. 6, both of them were detained at the island’s airport for allegedly possessing marijuana. Five days later, Ventocilla died at a hospital in Denpasar due to multiple organ failures, sparking speculations that mistreatment had occurred during the two activists’ detainment.
While the Peruvian Foreign Ministry initially responded by underlining the fact that marijuana possession is a serious crime in Indonesia, and that transphobia was not a factor in Ventocilla’s death, pressure from activists had prompted the Lima government to open up an investigation, Reuters reported.
“Prosecutor [Yony Soto Jimenez] arranged for the Thanatology Unit of the Public Ministry to be made official so that the Minnesota Protocol be carried out [for Rodrigo Ventocilla],” an official statement issued on Thursday reads.
“It has also been arranged to officiate the disposition of the Institute of Legal Medicine so that it schedules time and date for the Istanbul Protocol to be practiced for Sebastian Marallano.”
The Minnesota Protocol is an international guideline on investigating suspicious deaths whereby a state is suspected to bear responsibilities, whereas the Istanbul Protocol is a manual on the process for investigating “Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment”.
Earlier this week, the Peruvian ambassador for Indonesia, Luis Tsuboyama, sent a statement to The Jakarta Post saying that the Embassy of Peru in Indonesia and the consular section have been in contact with Indonesian authorities including the Indonesian Foreign Ministry to discuss the case.
