Police officers in the Philippines spun a colored roulette game on criminal suspects during interrogation dubbed as the "wheel of torture," including a punishment called the "20 seconds Manny Pacman," which according to inmates, is a full 20 seconds of continuous punching.
As part of the game, detainees were repeatedly punched if the wheel landed on "20 seconds Manny Pacman"– the sporting star turned politician's nickname – or hung upside down if it stopped on "30-second bat", Amnesty International said yesterday.
A photo of the multi-coloured wheel provided by the Commission of Human Rights also showed several other punishments, including "3 minutes zombies" and "30-second duck walk/Ferris wheel".
Although it is not clear how these punishments were carried out, a report by the commission cited detainees as saying they were beaten up, shocked with electricity or hit by steel bars, baseball bats, a chair or helmet and their relatives threatened.
"It's horrible," commission chairwoman Loretta Ann Rosales said.
"They do it for fun, it's like a game for entertainment.
"We're trying to correct this mindset based on a human rights approach to policing but obviously it may take a lot of time."
The accusations come following years of torture and abuse at the hands of former Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
Thousands of victims won a class action against the ousted leader's estate for torture and rights violations in 1992 some six years after he was overthrown by an army-backed "people power" revolt.
The new violations allegedly took place at a police intelligence office in Binan town in Laguna province, south of Manila last year and again last month.
The site has not been accredited as a detention center and was holding suspects – mostly suspected drug traffickers – illegally, Ms Rosales said.
The commission launched an investigation into the maltreatment following a tip off early this month on the alleged abuses of more than 40 detainees.
Ten officers implicated in the abuses have been taken into custody.--Source: Ninemsn