The Abu Ghraib torture cases finally come to trial, after twenty years of waiting and postponements

ROMA – It has been twenty years since the story became known that the US military and CIA tortured detainees during the so-called “war on terrorism” at Abu Ghraib and other US-run prisons in Iraq. Today, after twenty years, the stories of all those men who bear the scars of torture on their bodies and souls finally go to trial.

The process. On April 15, a federal court in Virginia began hearing Al Shimari’s case against CACI, a lawsuit brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) based in the United States on behalf of three Iraqi torture victims. The prosecution claims that the CACI, a private security firm hired by the U.S. government in 2003 to interrogate prisoners in Iraq, directed and participated in torture and other abuses at Abu Ghraib. And the prosecution always asks for compensation and penalties.

Trying to archive everything 20 times. CACI has attempted to have the case dismissed 20 times since the complaint was first filed in 2008. To date, American courts have repeatedly rejected similar cases against the federal government because of a 1946 law that preserves the immunity of soldiers from claims and denunciations for acts committed during the war. Furthermore, the U.S. government has created no official compensation program for those who claim they were tortured or mistreated. Nor are there pathways available to have their cases heard and then adjudicated. This lawsuit is a fundamental step towards justice for these three men who will finally have the opportunity to rely on justice, he writes Human Rights Watch. But they are still few and lucky compared to the number of complaints, torture, abuse and violence suffered and reported by the prisoners of Abu Ghraib.

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