Denailing

Denailing is the extraction of the nails from the fingers and/or toes, either as an accident, a medical procedure to treat severe nail infections, or as a method of torture.

Health consequences

Removed nails are capable of growing back normally over several months if the nail matrix is left intact through surgical extraction. However, if the matrix is damaged by trauma, it can result in an overgrowth of tissue from the proximal nail fold, resulting in the formation of pterygium. Particularly, if the nail matrix is burnt by a heated instrument, subsequent growth may produce nails which are striped, thin, or broken into longitudinal segments.[1]

History of use as torture

The denailing torture found application during the Armenian genocide of the 1910s. The United Nations Istanbul Protocol describes nail removal and the insertion of objects such as wire under the nail as forms of torture. [2]

In the aftermath of Italy's republican referendum after World War II, efforts to prosecute former officials in the Fascist government for collaborationism and war crimes resulted in the legal differentiation between the concepts of normal brutality, cruel brutality, and particularly cruel brutality. Only in the case of particularly cruel brutality would the accused be rejected for amnesty. Denailing was generally considered to fall under the first two categories, as for a brutality to be considered particularly cruel, it had to "horrify even those who are familiar with torture."[3]

Modern use

The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela documented that senior lieutenant Franklin Caldera, detained on 2019 during the Nicolás Maduro administration, was subjected to several methods of torture, including cutting and insertion of needles under his fingernails.[4] On 3 November 2022, pro-government colectivos attacked and denailed four female students of the University of the Andes that were protesting against the visit in Mérida state of Diosdado Cabello, vice-president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).[5]

Under the Daniel Ortega administration, political prisoners in Nicaragua have been subjected to torture, including denailing.[6][7][8][9]

In film

Some films have denailing scenes:

See also

Notes
  1. Istanbul Protocol: Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (PDF) (Professional Training Series No. 8/Rev.1 ed.). New York and Geneva: United Nations. 2004. pp. 29–38. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  2. G. R. Scott, A History of Torture (London: Merchant, 1996).
  3. Caroli, Paolo (2014). "The Role of the Judiciary Within the Construction of Collective Memory. The Italian Transition". Wroclaw Review of Law, Administration & Economics. 5:1: 169. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  4. Conclusiones detalladas de la Misión internacional independiente de determinación de los hechos sobre la República Bolivariana de Venezuela (PDF) (in Spanish). Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela. 16 September 2021. pp. 144, 146.
  5. "Estudiantes de la ULA fueron agredidas por chavistas: les arrancaron uñas de las manos". Monitoreamos (in Spanish). 2022-11-03. Retrieved 2022-11-06.
  6. Miranda, Carlos Salinas Maldonado, Lorena Arroyo, Wilfredo (2021-07-20). "Exilio, miedo, cárcel y muerte: el coste de la resistencia en Nicaragua". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-02-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. "El Chipote, la cárcel de los horrores sandinistas". El Mundo (in Spanish). 2021-07-02. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
  8. Medina Sánchez, Fabián (2 January 2022). "Los 38 métodos de tortura que utiliza el régimen de Daniel Ortega contra los presos políticos". infobae (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-02-26.
  9. "Noches de interrogatorios y torturas en El Chipote". 4to Mono (in Spanish). 2019-03-30. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
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