ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A military contractor accused of contributing to the abuse of prisoners at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison two decades ago is once again on trial in a federal courtroom after a long-awaited civil case ended with a hung jury earlier this year.
The retrial of the lawsuit against Reston, Virginia-based CACI began Wednesday with jury selection and opening statements. Three former detainees at Abu Ghraib sued CACI in 2008, alleging that civilian interrogators at the prison conspired with soldiers there in 2003 and 2004 to abuse detainees as a way to “soften” them up for interrogation.
CACI has long denied wrongdoing. The company said its employees had minimal interaction with the three plaintiffs in the case and that any liability for their mistreatment lay with the government, not CACI, because the civilian interrogators were acting under the command and control of the military.
The case finally went to trial earlier this year in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, after 15 years of legal wrangling and multiple appeals. The process marked the first time an American jury heard claims Survivors of Abu Ghraib in the two decades since photos of the abuse of detainees, accompanied by smiling American soldiers inflicting the abuse, shocked the world during the US occupation of Iraq.
Ultimately, however, the eight-member jury could not agree on whether CACI should be held liable. A was declared null and void in May after eight days of deliberations. Multiple jurors told The Associated Press that a majority of the jury sided with the plaintiffs.
The jury, in notes it sent to the judge during deliberations, indicated that it was struggling with a legal principle known as the “borrowed servant” doctrine.
CACI has argued as one of its defenses that it should not be liable for any wrongdoing of its employees if they were under the control and direction of the military.
Before the retrial began Wednesday, attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that CACI should be barred from presenting the loan-servant defense to the jury. But U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema denied that request.
In their opening statements Wednesday, lawyers for both sides elaborated on who had control over CACI personnel at Abu Ghraib.
“The military controlled all aspects of the work of the CACI interrogators. Everything,” said CACI’s lead attorney, John O’Connor. “The military is quite jealous of guarding their authority in a war.”
On the other hand, Baher Azmy, a lawyer at the Center for Constitutional Rights, which filed the case on behalf of the three detainees, cited passages from the Army Field Manual and from the Army’s contract with CACI, showing that CACI is responsible for supervision of its activities. own staff.
Despite that responsibility, Azmy said, CACI “turned a blind eye” to the misconduct of its employees “and collected a $31 million contract.”
The trial, which is expected to last until next week, will in many ways be a repeat of the one that took place earlier this year. All three accusers are expected to testify live about what they endured in prison, with one person testifying in person and two others testifying via video from Iraq.
None of the three accusers are depicted in the infamous photos that circulated more than two decades ago when the Abu Ghraib scandal first broke. But they claim they suffered similar abuse to what was seen in those photos, including beatings, forced nudity and being handcuffed in stress positions.
CACI’s lawyer did not dispute that there were horrific abuses at Abu Ghraib, but he did question whether the three prosecutors in this case are honest about their experiences. He said their current allegations are different from what they alleged 20 years ago, with the focus now on abuse by civilians rather than soldiers. He also said that the people who actually interviewed the detainees deny that they were mistreated.
The jury will also hear directly from a retired army general, Antonio Taguba, who investigated the Abu Ghraib scandal.