By MATTHEW BARAKAT
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A U.S. jury on Tuesday awarded $42 million to 3 former detainees of Iraq’s infamous Abu Ghraib jail, holding a Virginia-based navy contractor accountable for contributing to their torture and mistreatment 20 years in the past.
The choice from the eight-person jury got here after a unique jury earlier this 12 months couldn’t agree on whether or not Reston, Virginia-based CACI must be held chargeable for the work of its civilian interrogators who labored alongside the U.S. Military at Abu Ghraib in 2003 and 2004.
The jury awarded plaintiffs Suhail Al Shimari, Salah Al-Ejaili and Asa’advert Al-Zubae $3 million every in compensatory damages and $11 million every in punitive damages.
The three testified that they had been subjected to beatings, sexual abuse, compelled nudity and different merciless therapy on the jail.
They didn’t allege that CACI’s interrogators explicitly inflicted the abuse themselves, however argued CACI was complicit as a result of its interrogators conspired with navy police to “soften up” detainees for questioning with harsh therapy.
CACI’s lawyer, John O’Connor, didn’t remark after Tuesday’s verdict on whether or not the corporate would enchantment.
Baher Azmy, a lawyer for the Heart for Constitutional Rights, which filed the lawsuit on the plaintiffs’ behalf, known as the decision “an important measure of Justice and accountability” and praised the three plaintiffs for his or her resilience, “especially in the face of all the obstacles CACI threw their way.”
The trial and subsequent retrial was the primary time a U.S. jury heard claims introduced by Abu Ghraib survivors within the 20 years since images of detainee mistreatment — accompanied by smiling U.S. troopers inflicting the abuse — shocked the world in the course of the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
CACI had argued it wasn’t complicit within the detainees’ abuse. It stated its staff had minimal interplay with the three plaintiffs within the case and any legal responsibility for his or her mistreatment belonged to the federal government.
As within the first trial, the jury struggled to determine whether or not CACI or the Military must be held accountable for any misconduct by CACI interrogators. The jury requested questions in its deliberations about whether or not the contractor or the Military bore legal responsibility.
CACI, as one among its defenses, argued it shouldn’t be chargeable for any misdeeds by its staff in the event that they had been beneath the management and course of the Military. beneath a authorized precept often known as the “borrowed servants” doctrine.
Legal professionals for the plaintiffs argued that CACI was accountable for its personal staff’ misdeeds.
The lawsuit was first filed in 2008 however was delayed by 15 years of authorized wrangling and a number of makes an attempt by CACI to have the case dismissed.
Legal professionals for the three plaintiffs argued that CACI was liable for his or her mistreatment even when they couldn’t show that CACI’s interrogators had been those who straight inflicted the abuse.
The proof included experiences from two retired Military generals, who documented the abuse and concluded that a number of CACI interrogators had been complicit within the abuse.
These experiences concluded that one of many interrogators, Steven Stefanowicz, lied to investigators about his conduct and that he possible instructed troopers to mistreat detainees and used canines to intimidate detainees throughout interrogations.
Stefanowicz testified for CACI at trial by way of a recorded video deposition and denied mistreating detainees.
Initially Printed: November 12, 2024 at 12:24 PM EST
