State Crimes: Strategies to Resisting Tortures in Prisons Essay

Introduction

State crimes constitute the acute problem of the 21st century, which intensified after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This paper will discuss in detail the phenomenon of torture as a state crime. International State Crime Initiative (2022), the think tank on state violence and corruption, devotes great attention to tortures and calls for expanding the notion’s scope to include people who are not detained and cases of rape. This paper intends to uncover the effective methods of resistance to state crime on the example of torture in prisons.

The strategy of resistance defended in this proposal is civil resistance through the activities of non-governmental organizations and media. The main argument will be that the specificity of repressive regimes, which are the main sources of torture in the world, makes local and international courts not effective enough. Publicizing information about state torture among the population through the media and human rights organizations should create real pressure on the regime. Therefore, this report will not focus on strategies for going to court. Also, the method of individual struggle of prisoners against torture will be excluded from the discussion since this mechanism requires a completely different argumentation.

Resistance and Transitional Justice

The topic of resistance to state crimes seems under-researched in the academic community. Although criminologists were successful in naming and classifying state crimes, but “less so in documenting, analyzing, and theorizing the ways individuals and movements challenge, oppose, and even prevent and stop state crimes” (Stanley & McCulloch, 2014, p. 4392). Concerning definitions of the notion, Fattore & Mason (2020) interpret it as a fight against some inhumane practices of institutions, reinforced by the rejection of humiliating status imposed upon people. Scholars still believe in the effectiveness of nonviolent resistance as a tool to fight against state repression and crimes. Stanley & McCulloch (2014) add to this notion with more sociological meaning, claiming that it is also “a form of communication that constitutes a message or messages” (p. 4394). Nevertheless, the scope of the resistance is constantly debated by scholars.

Transitional justice is also an important notion for understanding resistance strategies. Teitel (2017) defines it as “the conception of justice associated with periods of political change, characterized by legal responses to confront the wrongdoings of repressive predecessor regimes” (p. 69). The tools of this transition are wide, encompassing domestic measures such as lustrations, truth commissions, and domestic courts and external measures such as international courts (Ross, 2015). The quality of this process directly depends on whether the future country will be democratic and developed (Germany after the Nazi regime) or will return to previous trends (Putin’s Russia after the USSR).

Transitional justice and resistance are important notions of exploring in the academic field because such research results may be useful in practical terms. Only by having knowledge of state crimes, it will be impossible to understand how this vicious circle can be broken. State crime theorists should have a leading role in such resistance research. One of the legitimate reasons for this is that state crimes are usually hard to identify clearly because they are hidden under curtails of legality and secrecy (Stanley, 2005). There are two consequences of this: the overall population cannot fully realize the scope of state crimes, and victims stay misrepresented in public view because fictional legality influences people’s minds (Stanley, 2005). Thus, state crime theorists have knowledge of how to organize resistance movements that will overcome false identities and state myths.

In the same manner, criminologists should also have their role in formulating resistance strategies. Special attention should be given to public criminology – the dissemination of academic findings among a broader audience. It usually happens through media engagement, Internet blogs, government hearings, and public lectures. Such interactions with people outside academia may change the hegemonic discourse of the label ‘criminal’ used by states to attack their opponents (Green, 2017). It also educates society about methods to resist and oppose state crimes.

Case Study: State Torture

Torture is an unjustifiable state crime that is unacceptable in the modern world. Michel Foucault (2019) traced back the genealogy of torture and claimed that it was the method of sovereigns in ancient times to prove monarchical power and monopoly on violence. In the modern world, although the punishment system does not need torture, many states, including democratic ones, continue using these harsh methods (Daems, 2017). Formally, torture “is when somebody in an official capacity inflicts severe mental or physical pain or suffering on somebody else for a specific purpose” (Amnesty International, 2022). Academians agree with the official statement of torture definition. Still, they indicate that when states deny physical methods as a method of interrogation, it paradoxically results in an increase in psychological torture (El-Khoury et al., 2021). In fact, the torture methods are so wide that it is impossible to list all of them.

Some recent examples show that domestic courts and International Criminal Court (ICC) may be useless in preventing systematic torture in strict regimes. For example, last year, a former prisoner from Russia, Sergey Savelyev, exported a huge database of videos abroad, which depicted thousands of videos of brutal torture in Russian prisons (Prosvirova, 2021). It included various methods: rape, beatings, use of electricity, and inhuman conditions of detention (Prosvirova, 2021). A few days after the release of the information, the Russian authorities put Sergey Savelyev on the wanted list, which indicates the regime’s unwillingness to effectively address the problem of torture (Devitt, 2021). This case will be used as a real example for justifying resistance methods.

Resistance Method: Civil Society Resistance

Given that systematic state torture is practiced in authoritarian states, the basic premise is that state institutions ignore the state crimes they have committed. Often lacking economic incentives to maintain regime stability, “forces of order may try to paralyze protestors through fear” (Jasper, 2018, p. 55). Therefore, it is impossible to find justice for political prisoners in domestic courts and organizations because all the activities are intended to impose feelings of helplessness. Erica Chenoweth, a sociology scholar, defines civil resistance as “a method of conflict through which unarmed civilians use a variety of coordinated methods to prosecute a conflict without directly harming an opponent” (Harvard Kennedy School, 2021). The activity of civil society is also described by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (2016): “civil society actors can help <…> mobilizing public support, shaping the agenda and setting the tone of discussions” (p. 49). In this paper, civil society resistance will be understood as a combination of different protest activities and the operation of independent media and NGOs.

The key strength of this method is that it mobilizes the population to surpass dictatorial rule and foster regime transition. The formed civil society during periods of repression may be effective in the future period of transitional justice (Van der Merwe & Schkolne, 2017). It makes the apolitical part of the population aware of the crimes committed by state authorities, so more and more people start to support oppositional forces (Harvard Kennedy School, 2021). In addition, it is evident in repressive regimes that civil society resistance is the only option to fight injustice.

As for the weaknesses, the major barrier to active civil resistance is the feeling of fear and anxiety among the population. Harsh prosecution methods and long sentences for political activity force people to ignore politics and find mental rescue in private life (Jasper, 2018). It is also the case for Russia, where even the brutal war against Ukraine did not result in massive protests and resistance because of strict authoritarian control. The issue of torture is hidden from the public eye, so it may be even harder to oppose it through public activities.

Critical Analysis of International Criminal Court as Resistance Method

ICC prosecutes major state crimes: crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocides. Its critics claim that ICC does not have a legal mandate and enough enforcement capabilities to arrest criminals in authoritarian countries, where state crimes are present (Appel, 2018). The key weakness of the ICC compared to civil resistance is that authoritarian states often ignore decisions and do not cooperate with the ICC. In the proposed example of Russia, authorities have withdrawn from ICC, claiming that its work is “one-sided and inefficient” (Walker & Bowcott, 2016). In addition, another important decision was the break with the European Court of Human Rights, which left the prisoners without any international efforts to prosecute torture (Maclean & Trevelyan). Scholars agree that this process is widespread: the international community has little power to address torture, so domestic forms of pressure are often a single solution (Hoyos, 2019). Thus, the decision of the ICC cannot be regarded as a really effective method of preventing torture.

Nevertheless, it cannot be said that ICC is a useless organization; instead, there are many instances of its effectiveness. Appel (2018) argues that “ICC even with its weak enforcement powers may still have a deterrent effect because surrendering to the ICC may be the best option for some leaders, as third-party states have little incentives to give asylum to indicted individuals” (p. 4). Besides, some standards put by ICC may guide society about what is just and truthful. For example, even if a domestic court sentenced an anti-torture activist for some falsified economic crime, the ICC report of the activist’s innocence may show to a population who is right.

Critical Analysis of Domestic Court as Resistance Method

Argumentation on the usefulness of domestic courts in preventing state crimes will be similar to the one used for ICC. In fact, domestic courts, in some instances, may work in a proper way. Using the example of Russia, many reports show that some prison guards and figures responsible for the prison system were accused and jailed (Mukhamedzhanov, 2019). However, as Mukhamedzhanov (2019) notes, “all these instances caused alarm and dismay, yet little in the way of structural change”. In fact, these cases may be a cover for a more serious problem – many may think that the state is prosecuting for torture, although the torture system has not been destroyed. What is important here, in theoretical terms, is the fact that “even deeply flawed justice systems investigate and prosecute some cases” (Gallagher, 2017, p. 1689). Thus, the strength of national courts is that civil society, through the activities of human rights media, NGOs, and activists, can raise public awareness of torture and, through this, force government officials to act. It should be noted that in strict authoritarian states, these activists must be moderate in their attitudes toward the regime because there is a big chance that officials will illegally prosecute them.

Conclusion

To sum up, this paper focused on state torture as a state crime. The purpose was to discuss resistance strategies that can be useful using real life examples and academic findings. The choice was made on civil society resistance through the activity of human rights media and NGOs. These actors may report on cases of torture in prisons and disseminate this information on the Internet. In addition, these bodies may direct applications to courts to start legal proceedings. Although such activity may not change the status quo as a whole, some episodes of torture may be eradicated. At the same time, more and more people who will be acquainted with the autocracies committed in prisons may result in civil resistance actions in the form of protests and boycotts. In addition, international bodies like ICC may report on the illegal prosecution of opposition and anti-torture activists, which will help a population decide whether someone was jailed fairly or not. Thus, the activity of civil society may in long-term start the staged process of democratization and transitional justice.

References

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