Information Review & Release (Irr) News for 26-30 July 2004 Executive Summary

Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 CO5578051
with no further trial or investigation, and the threat to persecute or arrest the prisoner's relatives... Added
emphasis was fumished by the assurance that ‘the MGB can do anything—either shoot or free a criminal....The
prisoner might be promised lighter treatment if he were quickly and frankly to admit his guilt....The promises, of
course, were almost never fulfilled, but their effect on the prisoner was great. A not unimportant promise of the
interrogator to the prisoner was food and cigarettes. This promise was fulfilled if the prisoner admitted his guilt
or commenced to give truthful testimony." The use of physical force was officially prohibited [except] in very
important cases where it was absolutely known that a prisoner was giving false information, especially in
espionage cases. The chief of the section, with the verbal sanction of the chief of the directorate, assumed
responsibility, and force was used on the prisoner; i.e., he was umnercifully beaten. V
(U//H865 "All of the above-mentioned measures were designed to obtain a confession of guilt from the
prisoner and to elicit a list of his accomplices. Exceptional insistence was placed on the delivery of
accomplices...The appraisal of the work of the interrogator was determined by his unmasking of the prisoner and
obtaining a confession of criminal activities, and by his obtaining from the prisoner a complete list of
accomplices. This is why the interrogators...were so zealous in their demands on prisoners to name all persons
who were also involved in criminal activity....The entire procedure was centered around the fact that the prisoner
was unaware of the major role his admission would play, because in the absence of incriminating evidence, if he
refused to confes he stood -‘ - ' '
'
s, a one in ten chance of being freed.
Approved for Release: 2019/03/27 CO5578051
(b)(3