Trans Harvard student who died in Bali police custody ‘was tortured’, mother says

The grieving mother of a transgender Harvard student who died while in police custody in Bali, Indonesia, has claimed that her son was tortured by officers.

Ana Ventosilla of Lima, Peru, told the Harvard Crimson that Indonesian police attempted to extort her family, asking for $200,000 for the release of her son, 32-year-old Rodrigo Ventocilla Ventosilla.

Mr Ventocilla was detained on 6 August at Denpasar Airport after he arrived in Bali to celebrate his honeymoon with his husband, Sebastian Marallano. He was reportedly arrested on drug charges and died on 11 August at a hospital where he’d been taken after he became ill two days earlier.

Ms Ventosilla told the Crimson that in one of the few phone calls that her son was allowed, he told her that police were asking for money in order to free him.

“Mom, I’m going to negotiate. I’m going to tell them that I [will] give them $13,000,” Ms Ventosilla said her son told him before the sum was raised to $200,000 in a matter of hours.

Mr Marallano arrived on a later flight and was arrested when he inquired authorities about his spouse’s legal issues, the family said in a statement.

Mr Ventocilla’s family has since claimed that the couple was not allowed to communicate with lawyers hired by the family or Harvard students who arrived on the resort island to help the newlywed couple.

His mother also told the Crimson that the newlyweds were the victims of “physical and psychological violence” by police.

Mr Ventocilla died on 11 August. The family said during a press conference on Monday that Indonesian officials refused to perform an autopsy.

Meanwhile, in a statement by the Indonesian Embassy in Peru, the South Asian country alleged that there was no discrimination surrounding Mr Ventocilla’s arrest and that he had been transported to a hospital after ingesting prescription drugs and marijuana that had not been seized, Infobae reported.

He died of “failure of bodily functions,” according to the statement.

The Indonesian Embassy in Peru also claimed that it was Mr Ventocilla’s family who refused the autopsy.

On Monday, Mr Ventocilla’s family announced that they had filed a lawsuit against Peruvian authorities who failed to provide resources to Mr Ventocilla and Mr Marallano expeditiously.

They also sued the Peruvian consulate in Bali, which they said was notified of the couple’s arrest on day one but only responded to pleas from Mr Ventocilla’s family after he died.

They asked Peruvian authorities to push Indonesia for a thorough investigation into Mr Ventocilla’s death.

Although authorities in Peru initially dismissed the demands, outrage for the lack of clarity surrounding the circumstances in which Mr Ventocilla died prompted them to ask Indonesia to open an inquiry, the Washington Post reported.

“The first communication was really aggravating and humiliating for us,” Ms Ventosilla told the Crimson. “It hurt our souls.”

Mr Ventocilla had just finished an internship in South Africa for the non-profit Harambee. He was set to return to the Harvard campus in Cambridge, where he was getting his masters in public administration.

Mr Marallano has since returned to Peru, while Mr Ventocilla’s body was set to be repatriated on 29 August. The Independent has reached out to Mr Ventosilla’s family for comment.