Extra-legal violence

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No Trace Project > Threat Library > Techniques > Extra-legal violence

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Extra-legal violence is the use of physical and psychological force by the State outside of what is legally permitted.

In Russia and Belarus, several anarchists have been tortured in recent years after being arrested by State agents. Reported acts of torture in these countries include (click to show): beatings, suffocation with a plastic bag or pillow, pouring water into the nose and mouth, hanging by the legs or by tied hands, electric shocks, torture with a screwdriver, forcing people to do squats until they collapse, sexual violence, and deprivation of sleep, food, and water.

In some contexts, extra-legal violence can include extra-legal assassinations.

Used in tactics: Deterrence, Incrimination

Mitigations

NameDescription
Preparing for repression

If your context includes the risk of torture after arrest, you may want to prepare for that risk. Possible preparations include:

  • Preparing psychologically.
  • Setting up protocols in advance that allow a network to learn when someone is missing in order to respond quickly to their disappearance. For example, members of a group may connect to an encrypted messaging platform once a day to send each other a message: if a member does not send their daily message, it may mean they have been arrested. Torture often occurs immediately after arrest, while no one knows where the person is and there is no lawyer, so responding quickly after arrest can be crucial.
  • Depending on the context, involving a lawyer or publicizing the acts of torture can help put pressure on the authorities to stop.

Used in repressive operations

NameDescription
Belarusian anarcho-partisans

The anarchists were tortured in the first days of their detention[1].

Repression of the 2019 uprising in Chile

In the streets and in custody, police forces and soldiers injured, sexually assaulted, raped, tortured and killed many protesters in what appeared to be a strategic attempt to deter participation in the uprising[2].

Network

Most of the defendants were tortured by agents of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) in the early stages of their detention in order to obtain (often fabricated) statements that could later be used to charge and convict them[3]. Most of the defendants who were tortured later retracted their statements and spoke publicly about the torture they had received.

Renata

During the house raids in February 2019, one of the arrested comrades was forced to his knees by a cop who put a gun to his temple[4].

References