Senator (Durbin) seeks detainee abuse case update

WASHINGTON - A key Democratic senator asked the Justice Department on Monday for an update on its progress prosecuting government employees who were accused in at least 17 cases of abusing detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In response, a Justice spokesman said at least some of the cases are still under investigation.

In a letter sent Monday to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, incoming Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., noted that the department began looking into the allegations of abuse two and a half years ago.

"In that time, there have not been any indictments in any of these cases," wrote Durbin, who first pressed the Justice Department for a prosecutions update in November 2005, when now-Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty was seeking Senate confirmation.

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