University of Virginia undergraduate student, Otto Frederick Warmbier, was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor by  North Korea for damaging and removing political propaganda from a North Korean hotel lobby. The 21-year-old native of Ohio was accused of being encouraged to carry out this act by a member of his church from back home in Ohio, a secret organization from his university and the CIA. The United States has been aware of this incident and have urged North Korea to pardon Warmbier, saying “the punishment does not fit the alleged crime.”

It was said that the trial in the case of Warmbier lasted only one hour before coming to a verdict. Warmbier pled for his life, saying, “My brother and my sister need me. I beg that you see that I am only human, how I have made the worst mistake of my life.”

Warmbier will be forced to work in hard labor like most of the other American detainee’s in North Korea, most likely in agriculture where he’ll spend his days planting apple trees. Warmbier now awaits the next move from the United States and what they have to say about his conviction.

Otto Frederick Warmbier was a dean’s list student at the University of Virginia, as well as a star high school soccer player.