'I was force-fed six times — in a Soviet prison'
http://972mag.com/i-was-force-fed-six-times-in-a-soviet-prison/110107/
As Israel contemplates force-feeding Palestinian hunger striker Muhammad Allan, a rabbi and human rights activist recalls how he was force-fed six times while imprisoned by the Soviet regime. The pain and humiliation remain with him until today.
On my fourth day of hunger strike the head of the detention center, Lieutenant-Colonel Petrenko walked into my cell. He looked into my eyes for some time and told me: “Rivkin, there is a medical opinion approved by the prosecutor, which says that you can be force-fed. We will feed you through your nose. It will hurt you, no one lasts longer than once. Even if you do last, you will end your hunger strike anyway. So what difference does it make — a day before or a day after? Save yourself the unnecessary suffering.” I am not sure about the others, but I really didn’t make it past one force-feeding.
Four people entered the cell, all of them dressed in white robes on top of their uniforms. They strapped me to the bed, even though it wasn’t necessary. They stuck a feeding tube into my nose and my head burst with pain. Forget struggling, I couldn’t even move my head. The procedure lasted only a few minutes, but it felt like years. After they removed the tube, I laid motionless on the bed for a few hours, blood gushing from my nose.
What was the story here? There was absolutely no medical reason to force-feed a healthy person on his fourth day of hunger strike. There was absolutely no reason to feed me through my nose. Petrenko told me very openly that the goal was not to put food into my stomach, but to cause me such pain that it would put an end to my hunger strike.