26 face trial over juvenile detention center 'torture' in Uruguay

MONTEVIDEO: Twenty-six people affiliated with a Uruguay juvenile detention center will be tried for involvement in alleged "torture" against four youths, after video of a prison beating sparked public outrage.
However, a judge ruled Friday that only 17 members of the group will be held in custody during the trial, while the nine others will be released, defense lawyer Anibal Martinez Chader told AFP.
The 17 defendants are charged with torture, while the nine others will be tried as accomplices.
A video showing more than 30 individuals beating and mistreating four detainees at the Montevideo center in July was broadcast widely across Uruguay's media.
"What the prosecution understands is that (what happened) fits within the legal framework of torture," prosecutor Adriana Umpierrez told a press conference Thursday, adding that "there was cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment."
Among those in the video was Jose Lorenzo Lopez, vice president of Uruguay's largest union PIT-CNT.
He is also the president of a workers union for Uruguay's Children and Adolescent Institute, which is involved with the juvenile detention center.
Lopez was placed under provisional dismissal following the incident. He will be tried out of prison.
The defendants face 20 months to eight years in prison. – AFP