Installation view at The artists Residence Herzliya 2016
Installation view at The artists Residence Herzliya 2016
Performing the Interrogation(2015)
wrapped'
The interrogators have wrapped the prisoner in a carpet so signs of torture will show on the body. This precaution was taken if the subject might later appear in a public trial.
Danzig Baldaev: Drawings from the Gulag (2010), Murray & Sorrell FUEL, page 36.
'Shout'
'Tiltul' (shaking)
It consists of holding the detainee by the collar of his shirt and violently shaking him.
The legality of shaking is being addressed in a pending case before the HCJ, and in the meantime, the Court has refused to grant interim injunctions against using that method. However, it granted the detainees temporary injunctions to keep the GSS from using the other four procedures. Upon receiving information regarding future terrorist attacks, the GSS petitioned the HCJ to remove the injunctions so that they might obtain further details. The GSS maintained that it did not over-extend the arms of the interrogees and did everything possible to ensure that the handcuffs did not rub or press against the skin. The GSS also claimed that it placed a sack over the head of the detainees as a security measure to keep them from identifying one another, that it played loud music to keep interrogees from communicating with each other, and that everyone in the vicinity, including the guards, was subjected to the music.
Furthermore, the GSS argued that depriving detainees of sleep is not GSS policy. However, it admitted that when detainees were held before interrogation, they were not given breaks designed especially for sleep. After interrogation, detainees were sent as soon as possible back to their cells where they could sleep.
Bending the back (the "banana" position)
The report published by B'Tselem and HaMoked in May 2007 indicates that, in a small percentage of cases, Shabak agents use "special" interrogation means, most of which entail the use of direct physical violence. The ISA's director and the State Attorney's Office approve their use in "ticking bomb" cases. Based on the statements of the sample group, there are seven methods in this category.
The interrogators turned the chair so the interrogee sat with the backrest to the side, cuffed his hands in front of him, and then pushed him backwards so his backrests were at a forty-five-degree angle. When he cannot maintain this angle, he falls back, his body forming an arch.
'Clap'
'Stand Facing the Corner'
Victims of NKVD-MVD, ‘the enemies of the people’, were made to stand up for days during interrogations. They went without sleep, water, food, or rest. When they fainted, water was poured over them, then they were beaten and forced to stand in the corner again.
Danzig Baldaev: Drawings from the Gulag (2010), Murray & Sorrell FUEL, page 29.
'Splitting Axed'
During interrogations, a special NKVD brigade (or, sometimes, the interrogators themselves), known as ‘hammerers’ or ‘splitting axes’, put a rubber bag over the victim to temporarily suffocate him. After this technique had been used a few times, the victim would start bleeding from the nose, ears and mouth.