Garrote

A garrote (US-EN) or garrotte (UK-EN) ( gə-RO(H)T; alternatively spelled as garotte), or garrote vil (Spanish: [ɡaˈrote ˈβil]), is a weapon and a method of capital punishment. It consists of a handheld (or, in later years, sometimes mechanical) ligature of chain, rope, scarf, wire, or fishing line, used to strangle a person.

Assassination weapon

A garrotte can be made of different materials, including ropes, cloth, cable ties, fishing lines, nylon, guitar strings, telephone cord or piano wire. A stick may be used to tighten the garrotte; the Spanish word refers to the stick itself. In Spanish, the term may also refer to a rope and stick used to constrict a limb as a torture device.

Since World War II, the garrotte has been regularly employed as a weapon by soldiers as a silent means of killing sentries and other enemy personnel. Instruction in the use of purpose-built and improvised garrottes is included in the training of many elite military units and special forces. A typical military garrotte consists of two wooden handles attached to a length of flexible wire; the wire is looped over a sentry's head and pulled taut in one motion. Soldiers of the French Foreign Legion have used a particular type of double-loop garrotte (referred to as la loupe), where a double coil of rope or cord is dropped around a victim's neck and then pulled taut. Even if the victim pulls on one of the coils, the other is tightened.