Judge orders retrial of civil case against contractor accused of abuse at Abu Ghraib

BY MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A judge has ordered a retrial over allegations that a Virginia-based military contractor contributed to the abuse and torture of detainees at Iraq’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison two decades ago. A civil trial earlier this year ended with a hung jury and mistrial. The eight-person panel split on whether contractor CACI bore responsibility for abuse of the three Abu Ghraib survivors who filed suit. CACI supplied civilian interrogators to the prison in 2003 and 2004. At a hearing Friday in Alexandria, Virginia, federal judge Leonie Brinkema said she’d gone back and forth over whether a new trial is merited, but ultimately decided the plaintiffs are within their rights to retry the case.