Larnaca Criminal Court acquitted a Colombian national, 49, who was a suspect in the case of the death of a woman who died in 2019 after consuming ayahuasca in a ritual in Aradippou.
The man was reportedly the organiser of the ritual which took place on August 27, 2019. A 34-year-old woman from Latvia died after consuming ayahuasca during the event.
In its ruling on Thursday, the Larnaca Criminal Court noted that there isn’t enough evidence implicating the 49-year-old with the cause of the woman’s death.
According to the Court, there was no testimony presented linking the death of the 34-year-old woman to the consumption of the ayahuasca brew used in the ritual.
Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic drink made from the stem and bark of the tropical liana Banisteriopsis caapi and other botanical ingredients.
According to healthline.com, the drink was used for spiritual and religious purposes by Amazonian tribes and is still used as a sacred beverage by some religious communities in Brazil and North America.
Traditionally, a shaman — an experienced healer who leads Ayahuasca ceremonies — prepares the brew by boiling torn leaves of the Psychotria viridis shrub and stalks of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine in water.
Psychotria viridis contains N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a psychedelic substance that occurs naturally in the plant. DMT is a powerful hallucinogenic chemical.
When combined, these two plants form a powerful psychedelic brew that affects the central nervous system, leading to an altered state of consciousness that can include hallucinations, out-of-body experiences, and euphoria.
