Mock execution
Mock execution is a torture method in which an execution is apparently carried out, i.e. it appears to the victim as if their own execution is imminent. It is a form of psychological torture in which the victim experiences actual fear of death .
execution
Mock executions can consist of the victim being led to the place of execution, possibly having to dig their own grave , but then ending the execution at the last minute or simulating a shooting with blank cartridges . Mock executions are one of the torture methods that leave no physical traces on the victims ( white torture ).
Examples
- A famous victim of a mock execution was the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky , who was only notified of his pardon in 1849 when the firing squad saw him. This traumatic experience also flowed into his literary work. The Austrian writer Stefan Zweig described this event in lyrical form in a chapter of his book Sternstunden der Menschheit .
- Josef Stalin's secret service carried out not only physical torture but also mock executions on General Konstantin Konstantinowitsch Rokossowski .
- In the GDR , the Ministry for State Security carried out a mock execution of the publicist Wolfgang Welsch with the aim of breaking his resistance.
- In Chile , too, during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, according to the Valech Commission , torturing prisoners with mock executions was the order of the day.
- Mock executions, according to the American hostages, were carried out during the Tehran hostage-taking (November 1979 – January 1981).
- During the Iraq War , prisoners were mock executions by members of the United States Armed Forces . Several officers were sentenced to arrest and fines for this by a military court.
Mock executions in art
- In the film Furyo - Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence , the British major Jack Celliers ( David Bowie ) is the victim of a mock execution.
- In the television series Die Sopranos , mock executions appear in the episodes "Denial, Anger, Acceptance" and "Where's Johnny?"
- In the film The Untouchables , Jim Malone (Sean Connery) carries out a mock execution to get a criminal to speak.
- In Tom Clancy's thriller " The Shadow War, " the crew of a United States Coast Guard ship carry out a mock execution on a suspect in order to get an accomplice to confess.
- In the film Gorillas im Nebel , Dian Fossey ( Sigourney Weaver ) uses a mock execution to punish a poacher for participating in the killing of several gorillas.
Web links
Wiktionary: mock execution - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolfgang Welsch, I was Public Enemy No. 1: The Sting of the Scorpion. As an escape helper on the Stasi death list. Munich 2006. ISBN 3492261671
- ^ Report on Allen's deeds ( Memento from December 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive )