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Peru opens torture investigation over trans man's death in Bali
Rodgrigo Ventocilla, 32, was a Peruvian graduate student at Harvard celebrating his honeymoon in Bali. His death has outraged LGBT activists who have accused Peruvian diplomats of not doing enough to protect him.
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A police officer stands guard outside a courtroom during the trial of Islamist leader Zulkarnaen, accused of organising the Bali bombings in 2002, at a district court in Jakarta on January 19, 2022.
(AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
P
eruvian prosecutors have opened an investigation for alleged torture over the death in Bali last month of a trans Peruvian man who died while in custody in the tourist island of Bali, the country's public ministry said on Thursday.
Rodgrigo Ventocilla, 32, was a Peruvian graduate student at Harvard celebrating his honeymoon in Bali. His death has outraged LGBT activists who have accused Peruvian diplomats of not doing enough to protect him.
Ventocilla was detained at the airport in Bali in early August over alleged possession of marijuana. He died days later of a "failure of bodily functions," according to the Bali police.
The public ministry did not say who it is investigating but Julio Arbizu, a lawyer for Ventocilla's family, said prosecutors are investigating the Peruvian diplomat in charge of consular services at the Indonesian embassy, as well as an Indonesian official.
The public added that the investigation is expected to last 8 months.
Peru's foreign ministry initially said Ventocilla's detention did not involve "transphobia" and that possessing marijuana is a serious offense in Indonesia.
But following pressure from local activists, it has since called on Indonesia to open its own investigation into the death.
Indonesia has said it considers the case closed and that no violence was involved in Ventocilla's death.
