Judge declares mistrial after jury deadlocks in lawsuit filed by former Abu Ghraib prisoners
Last edited Thu May 2, 2024, 04:09 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: AP
Updated 3:54 PM EDT, May 2, 2024
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) A judge declared a mistrial Thursday after a jury said it was deadlocked and could not reach a verdict in the trial of a military contractor accused of contributing to the abuse of detainees at the Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq two decades ago. The mistrial came in the jurys eighth day of deliberations. The deliberations went far longer than the trial itself.
The eight-member civil jury in Alexandria deadlocked on accusations the civilian interrogators who were supplied to the U.S. Army at Abu Ghraib in 2003 and 2004 had conspired with soldiers there to abuse detainees as a means of softening them up for questioning.
The trial was the first time a U.S. jury heard claims brought by Abu Ghraib survivors in the 20 years since photos of detainee mistreatment accompanied by smiling U.S. soldiers inflicting the abuse shocked the world during the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
Reston, Virginia-based CACI had argued that it wasnt complicit in the detainees abuse. It said that its employees had minimal interaction with the three plaintiffs in the case and that any liability for their mistreatment belonged to the government, not CACI.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/abu-ghraib-military-contractor-abuse-detainees-caci-3626690f14850075310a771d95ec5ab1
Article updated.
Original article -
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) A judge declared a mistrial Thursday after a jury said it was deadlocked and could not reach a verdict in the trial of a military contractor accused of contributing to the abuse of detainees at the Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq two decades ago. The mistrial came in the jurys eighth day of deliberations.
The eight-member civil jury in Alexandria deadlocked on accusations the civilian interrogators who were supplied to the U.S. Army at Abu Ghraib in 2003 and 2004 had conspired with soldiers there to abuse detainees as a means of softening them up for questioning.
The trial was the first time a U.S. jury heard claims brought by Abu Ghraib survivors in the 20 years since photos of detainee mistreatment accompanied by smiling U.S. soldiers inflicting the abuse shocked the world during the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
Reston, Virginia-based CACI had argued that it wasnt complicit in the detainees abuse. It said that its employees had little to any interaction with the three plaintiffs in the case and that any liability for their mistreatment belonged to the government, not CACI. The plaintiffs can seek a retrial.
SalamanderSleeps
(600 posts)Two private military contractors are being investigated for their role in torture allegations at the Abu Ghraib prison, Iraq: CACI International, Inc. from Arlington, Virginia, and Titan of San Diego, California. CACI supplied at least one interrogator while Titan supplied at least two translators named in a 53-page classified internal Army report written by Major General Antonio Taguba that have dominated news coverage all over the world. (see box)
A total of four men -- Steven Stephanowicz, John Israel, Torin Nelson and Adel Nakhla -- are named in the report. All of them were assigned to work with the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade, a unit that is currently stationed in Germany and Italy in support of V Corps, under the command of Colonel Thomas Pappas.
According to the Army report:
Stephanowicz, a CACI interrogator, "[m]ade a false statement to the investigation team regarding the locations of his interrogations, the activities during his interrogations, and his knowledge of abuses." Further, investigators found, Stephanowicz encouraged Military Police to terrorize inmates, and "clearly knew his instructions equated to physical abuse."
More at link:
https://www.corpwatch.org/article/private-contractors-and-torture-abu-ghraib-iraq