From Right to Left it Had No End: 'Cat-O'Nine-Tails'

 

 

Regrettably, abuse of human rights is so widespread on a global scale that some reference must now be made in forensic pathology examiantion as the physical manifestations of torture. It is stated by Amnesty International (2001) that in a third of the member states of the United Nations torture of one kind or another is practised, in spite of them being signatories to United Nations resolutions banning these atrocities. According to Amnesty International's worldwide report on torture based on a 3-year investigation (2OOO), currently more than 150 countries routinely torture people compared with 98 countries in their previous report in 1984. Although most torture does not result in death, there are - sufficient cases of physical abuse of human rights that progress to fatality that a number of organizations offer expertise when any alleged case needs to be investigated, usually calling upon forensic pathologists to assist them in such circumstances.

 

In many instances the autopsy appearances of fatal abuse are no different from those by any other homicide, and the confirmation of lethal torture must depend upon circumstantial and other corroborative evidence. For example, if a political detainee is kicked to death, the physical findings may be identical to those of a murder by kicking in a street crime. Certain features may arouse suspicion or provide definite evidence that the death had political overtones. The word 'political' is used in a wide sense as many abuses of human rights are not directed or even condoned by higher levels of government, though often there is an indifference to being informed about such activities. Many instances of illegal death and injury are perpetrated by the military or the securiry forces - and even here, the level of command that directs or condones the abuse varies greatly. In general, the civil police and the regular prisons are usually not the perpetrators of gross abuse, though there are many exceptions. It tends to be the armed forces, clandestine security police, and special detention camps that are most often guilty of torture and illegal executions.

 

One of the features that characterizes torture and abuse is that the victim is usually either in detention or some form of custody, or is temporarily in the power of the authorities, even if that means that soldiers have just burst into a private house. All deaths in custody should be examined with care, as much to ensure that the guardians are cleared of any suspicion of ill-treatment as to discover any ill-treatment itself. The fatal event may be quite different from the non-fatal abuse, as a victim who is beaten may be disposed of by shooting. As in all forensic work, the pathological investigations can only be part of the overall enquiry.

It is through respected international agencies, such as the Red Cross, Amnesty International and Physicians for Human Rights, that pathologists have the best chance of being allowed access to the relevant material, and the organizations mentioned above are willing to undertake or assist legitimate investigations anywhere in the world. One particular problem associated with human rights abuse is the frequent long delay before being able to examine the victim. In the living, they may have been detained for months or years after the ill-treatment, or may have been exiled or in hiding before they have the opportunity to be seen by - an impartial medical observer, by which time acute injuries will have healed, bruises absorbed and wounds and burns scarred over.  Even skeletal material is all that is sometimes available, as in the 'lost children' of Argentina or in the killing fields of Uganda. Problems of identification are often difficult. Contemporary photographs of injuries are often of poor quality and the facilities for autopsy are primitive in some of the less developed countries. When the suspicion, lack of cooperation and often open hostility of the local authorities is added, the task for the visiting pathologist is formidable indeed.

 

The following types of injury may confirm or arouse suspicion of torture, though, as stated, virtually any type of injury can be inflicted deliberately to extract information, punish or degrade the victims or to exterminate them. Repetition of a particular injury, such as 'tramline' bruises from beating, is suspicious, because in ordinary assaults and homicides such excessive and perhaps regularly placed repetitive lesions would be unusual.

 

Beating is one of the most common forms of torture and can take many forms, varying both with the weapon used and the part of the body injured. Blows both to the head and to other parts of the body were present in all the cases reported. Unless severe and repeated, beating is not often the sole cause of death, though this can occur from haemorrhage, sepsis, injured internal organs, or from sheer exhaustion and pain in an already debilitated victim. The blows may be inflicted by fist or foot, but are more often applied with a weapon. The use of a whip or lath-like instrument is common, but metal or wooden bars, clubs, batons, rifle butts or belts may be used. More recently, lengths of plastic hosepumps or tubing have come into favour in some parts of the world. Many of these produce a characteristic skin lesion, namely a single- or double-edged linear bruise. The bruise may be a line of confluent petechial haemorrhages or a continuous mark of red skin. The 'tramline' bruise is a double line of parallel marks with a pale unbruised zone between them, caused by the impact of a rectangular or circular-sectioned object.

 

Repeated beating leaves multiple marks, which though overlapping and often criss-crossing, may have a generally similar orientation that indicates that the attacker stood in a relatively fured position to the victim. For example, lashing across the back may leave marks running from top right to bottom left, suggesting that a right-handed perpetrator stood to the left of the victim. The use of a multi-thonged whip, such as a 'cat-o'nine-tails' will leave a series of marks, again generally in the same orientation. The thongs tend to be narrow and may cause linear marks with tramlining. There may be metal tags or knots on the end of each thong, which can cause focal damage. The back is the most frequent target, but whipping and beating may be applied to the buttocks, thighs, front of chest, breasts and abdomen, lower legs, soles of the feet, and even perineum and genitals. Beating of the soles of the feet with canes or rods is a torture rooted in antiquity and this so-called 'falanga' may leave relatively little to see, even though it is extremely painful and debilitating. The tough tissue and thick fascial planes of the foot do not readily reveal bruising, though it may be found on deep dissection in victims who have been killed by some other means.

 

Burns are unfortunately common and may be either the actual cause of death or visible as recent or scarred evidence of previous torture. All kinds of burns may be suffered. Knowledge of local practices, such as the burning motor tyre 'necklace', can help identify burns in typical sites. Where molten liquids have been dripped from above onto a bound-up victim, there may be shadow areas that indicate the direction of contact, which makes any innocent explanation highly unlikely. In survivors, scarring occurs in all but the most superficial burns, and may lead to large, unsightly cicatrized areas. In victims of African origin, large keloids may form, and further complicate the damage and attempts at surgical treatment.

 

Cutting and stabbing may be inflicted with a variety of weapons, but wounds from knives and bayonets are most common in the context of torture and extrajudicial execution.  Clubbing and blunt injury is extremely common, either to cause death or as a form of abuse. It is sometimes dispensed almost casually, as when guards lay about themselves with rifle butts against the inmates of detention camps. Again the features are non-specific. The head is the most common target, but the legs and knees are also often struck. Blows on the back or side of the neck can be particularly lethal from vertebrobasilar artery damage. 

 

Acknowledgements:

www.aivd.nl    AIVD ©

Algemene Bestuursdienst – @Erik Akerboom ©

www.politie.nl  Politiekorpschef  @Janny Knol©

www.politie.nl WEB Politie - @Henk van Essen©

https://english.marechaussee.nl  Royal Netherlands Marechaussee    @Willem-Alexander King of the Netherlands©

PolitieAcademie - https://www.politieacademie.nl/en©

 Author: W.R. Łaskawiec ©

 

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