A woman trapped inside a small wooden box with her head sticking out is depicted.
The photograph was taken by French photographer Stéphane Passet, who traveled to Mongolia as part of Albert Kahn's "The Archives of the Planet" project. It was later published in National Geographic magazine with a caption suggesting "A Mongolian prisoner in a box".
According to the initial information in the magazine, the woman was accused of betrayal and sentenced to death by starvation. It was said that her access to food and water was restricted, and the box was used as a means of punishment.
However, subsequent research has cast doubt on the validity of this interpretation. Some sources note that the wooden box in the photograph might have been a mobile detention device used for transporting or temporarily holding prisoners. The exact identity of the woman, the reason she was placed in the box, and her subsequent fate remain unknown.
Therefore, it is difficult to accept the information regarding the photograph — that "the woman accused of betrayal was sentenced to death by starvation" — as absolute truth. Yet the photograph itself remains an important historical piece of evidence in discussions about punishment and detention practices of that era.
Today, such cruel treatment and punitive methods that degrade human dignity are considered contrary to human rights and international legal norms.
