A federal jury on Tuesday awarded $42 million in damages to three Iraqi men who were mistreated while detained at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison during the Iraq war in 2004.

The ruling found Virginia-based defense contractor CACI Premier Technology Inc. liable for facilitating torture and other forms of abuse during interrogations of Iraqi combatants, according to CNN. The lawsuit, filed in 2008, represents the first time that plaintiffs suing over the abuse have obtained a jury verdict.

The three former detainees were represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR). They detailed brutal abuses they experienced at Abu Ghraib between 2003 and 2004 when CACI contractors provided interrogation services to the U.S. military. The company made multiple attempts to dismiss the case, but it still went to trial earlier this year.

The plaintiffs alleged the company was hired by the US government following the US invasion of Iraq to provide interrogation services at Abu Ghraib, a US Army detention facility where Iraqi detainees were brutally tortured.

The plaintiffs, Suhail Al Shimari, a middle school principal, Asa’ad Zuba’e, a fruit vendor, and Salah Al-Ejaili, a journalist, each received $3 million in compensatory damages and $11 million in punitive damages, according to the release and court documents.

“The victory isn’t only for the three plaintiffs in this case against a corporation,” Al-Ejaili said in the release. “The victory is a shining light for everyone who has been oppressed, and a strong warning to any company or contractor practicing different forms of torture or abuse.

Plaintiffs alleged that CACI breached international law by deploying guards who tortured prisoners, according to the release.

CCR lauded the ruling as “historic,” explaining that it was the first time former detainees had the chance to directly confront a U.S. contractor in court.

Each of the three plaintiffs received $3 million in compensatory damages and an additional $11 million in punitive damages. One of these individuals stated that the outcome is “a shining light for everyone who has been oppressed, and a strong warning to any company or contractor practicing different forms of torture or abuse.”

US jury orders contractor to pay $42 mn in Abu Ghraib torture case
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CACI Premier Technology blamed the U.S. military for the abuse. In opening statements, the company’s lawyers argued that “a handful of bad apples” among military police were responsible for the abuse. They also argued that the plaintiffs failed to prove that any of CACI’s contractors were directly involved in the treatment of the detainees.

In a statement, CACI expressed disappointment with the decision and announced its intention to appeal it.

The Abu Ghraib story became a significant scandal for former President George W. Bush’s administration. When images depicting the treatment of detainees surfaced in 2004, there was an outpouring of outrage from across the country and the broader international community. The photographs showed prisoners stripped naked and bound by leashes while being forced to pose in human pyramids.