A MODERN INQUISITION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2030, 15 March 1907, Page 3

A MODERN INQUISITION.

A harrowing story of torture, said to have been systematically carried on in tho Riga prison, is told in the Berlin Vonvarts, by a political prisoner, who gives the names of 16 persons who, he declares, have undergone it. The allegation is that torture is carried on every night of tho week, except Sundays, from ten pun. or midnight till' about six in the morning, in a special, chamber on the second floor of the prison containing Ull sorts of instruments of .torture, such as rubber sticks, pincers, long pins, etc., as well as a rack, on which tlio victim is stretched, bound hand and foot, with a wet rag over his mouth. It is done in the presence of spies and police, and not mifrequently in that of higher dignitaries and the local nobility, who constitute the “Self-defence League.” Thus, on November 29, torture was used in the presence of Baron Radon, the district chief, and at. another time under the eyes of Baron Rekkc, the reputed organiser of the pogrom at Tukkurn. The modus operandi is said to be as follows: The victim is brought into the room and stripped of all his clothes. He is then told to name his friends and “accomplices.” Should he refuse, they stretch him on the rack and give him a number of strokes with a rubber stick —sometimes several hundred. Witli a view to heightening the pain, salt is often strewn over the wounds, and the flogging continue/} till the victim becomes senseless. He is then brought hack to his senses, and again asked to name his accomplices. If lie continues to he obstinate they tear out his nails and his hair, and pierce through his hands and feet with long pins. Should this again prove of no avail the torturers tear out pieces of flesh from his body with hot pincers, knock out his teeth, and perform other indescribable cruelties. The writer then tells the story of one Griming', 24 years old, who proved “obstinate” to the last and underwent the whole series of torture from the first stage to the last. Tile inquisition in this cose lasted three weeks, after which the victim was handed to a court-mar-tial and shot. All tho hair from his beard was plucked out, and the hair on his head turned grey. His face was horribly multilated, in many places his skin was torn or scraped off, and his spine and several ribs broken.