March 19 (Bloomberg) -- CACI International Inc., the provider of intelligence-gathering services for the U.S. government, must face a lawsuit by four former detainees who say they were tortured at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee in Alexandria, Virginia, denied the company’s motion to dismiss the detainees’ claims, which allege violations of U.S. law including torture, war crimes and civil conspiracy.

The suit alleges that the CACI employees participated in physical and mental abuse of the detainees, destroyed documents, videos and other evidence, and prevented the reporting of the torture to the International Committee of the Red Cross and other agencies. CACI had claimed the actions of its contract interrogators at Abu Ghraib were beyond judicial review.

“The court holds that plaintiffs’ claims are justiciable because civil tort claims against private actors for damages do not interfere with the separation of powers” provisions of the U.S. Constitution, Lee said in his order issued late yesterday.

Suhail Najim Abdullah Al Shimari, Taha Yaseen Arraq Rashid, Sa’ad Hamza Hantoosh Al-Zuba’e and Salah Hasan Usaif Jasim Al- Ejaili are Iraqi citizens who were held at Abu Ghraib before being released between 2004 and 2008 without being charged.

Bill Koegel, the lawyer representing CACI, said he is reviewing the decision with the company.

CACI fell $1.97, or 5 percent, to $37.71 on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares have declined 16 percent this year.

Electric Shocks

According to the complaint, interrogators employed by CACI committed acts of abuse including food deprivation, beatings, electric shocks, sensory deprivation, extreme temperatures, death threats, oxygen deprivation, shooting prisoners in the head with taser guns, breaking bones and mock executions.

The suit is the latest by detainees alleging abuse by CACI employees at the prison in Salah ad Din province, north of Baghdad. About 250 former prisoners sued the Arlington, Virginia-based company in 2007, claiming they were abused at the prison.

In 2004, photos showing U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib were published around the world, prompting an international outcry.

“The court’s ruling is another step toward ensuring that this litigation will contribute to the true history of Abu Ghraib,” Susan Burke, a lawyer for the men, said in a statement today. “These innocent men were senselessly tortured by a U.S. company that profited from their misery.”

The case is Al Shimari v. CACI Premier Technology Inc., 1:08cv827, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Cary O’Reilly in Washington at caryoreilly@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 19, 2009 16:38 EDT