(ALEXANDRIA, Va.) — A U.S. jury on Tuesday awarded $42 million to 3 former detainees of Iraq’s infamous Abu Ghraib jail, holding a Virginia-based army contractor chargeable for contributing to their torture and mistreatment twenty years in the past.
The choice from the eight-person jury got here after a unique jury earlier this yr could not agree on whether or not Reston, Virginia-based CACI ought to be held answerable 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 remedy 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 army police to “soften up” detainees for questioning with harsh remedy.
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 essential measure of Justice and accountability” and praised the three plaintiffs for his or her resilience, “particularly within the face of all of the obstacles CACI threw their manner.”
The $42 million absolutely matches the quantity sought by the plaintiffs, Azmy mentioned.
“At the moment is a giant day for me and for justice,” mentioned Al-Ejaili, a journalist, in a written assertion. “I’ve waited a very long time for today. This victory isn’t just for the three plaintiffs on this case towards a company. This victory is a shining mild for everybody who has been oppressed and a powerful warning to any firm or contractor working towards completely different types of torture and abuse.”
Al-Ejaili traveled to the U.S. for each trials to testify in particular person. The opposite two plaintiffs testified by video from Iraq.
The trial and subsequent retrial had been the primary time a U.S. jury heard claims introduced by Abu Ghraib survivors within the 20 years since pictures 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.
Not one of the three plaintiffs had been in any of the infamous pictures proven in information studies world wide, however they described remedy similar to what was depicted.
Al Shimari described sexual assaults and beatings throughout his two months on the jail. He additionally mentioned he was electrically shocked and dragged across the jail by a rope tied round his neck. Al-Ejaili mentioned he was subjected to emphasize positions that triggered him to vomit black liquid. He was additionally disadvantaged of sleep, compelled to put on ladies’s underwear and threatened with canines.
CACI had argued it wasn’t complicit within the detainees’ abuse. It mentioned its workers had minimal interplay with the three plaintiffs within the case, and CACI questioned components of the plaintiffs’ tales, saying that army information contradict a few of their claims and suggesting they shaded their tales to help a case towards the contractor. Essentially, although, CACI argued that any legal responsibility for his or her mistreatment belonged to the federal government.
As within the first trial, the jury struggled to resolve whether or not CACI or the Military ought to be held chargeable 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 in all its defenses, argued it shouldn’t be answerable for any misdeeds by its workers in the event that they had been underneath the management and route of the Military. underneath a authorized precept generally known as the “borrowed servants” doctrine.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that CACI was chargeable for its personal workers’ misdeeds. They mentioned provisions in CACI’s contract with the Military, in addition to the Military Area Guide, clarify that CACI is chargeable for overseeing its personal employees.
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.
Attorneys 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 studies from two retired Military generals, who documented the abuse and concluded that a number of CACI interrogators had been complicit within the abuse.
These studies concluded that one of many interrogators, Steven Stefanowicz, lied to investigators about his conduct and that he probably instructed troopers to mistreat detainees and used canines to intimidate detainees throughout interrogations.
Stefanowicz testified for CACI at trial by means of a recorded video deposition and denied mistreating detainees.
