The five men who make up the Central Park Five, now calling themselves the Exonerated Five, have filed a defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump over his comments during last month's presidential debate.

The lawsuit focuses on the Sept. 10 debate in Pennsylvania, where Trump said the five men – Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise – pleaded guilty in connection with the assault and were tried for raping a man and woman who was walking in Central Park on April 19, 1989, and that the victim had died.

During the debate, he said: “They admitted – they said they pleaded guilty. And I said, well, if they pleaded guilty, they seriously injured a person, ultimately killed them. And when they pleaded guilty – then they pleaded that we were not guilty.”

At the time of trial, both had pleaded not guilty and the attack victim survived.

The lawsuit said Trump's statements were “demonstrably false” and added: “Plaintiffs never pleaded guilty to a crime and were subsequently acquitted of any wrongdoing.” “In addition, the victims of the Central Park attacks were not killed.” The complaint continued that the men now in her 50s, have “suffered injuries as a result of Defendant Trump’s false and defamatory statements.”

The five, who were teenagers at the time of the charges, had maintained their innocence throughout the trial and incarceration. In their trials, they were accused of attacking the jogger as well as other assaults and robberies in Central Park.

The five spent years behind bars before being acquitted in 2002 DNA evidence linked another man, a serial rapist, to the attack. The city ultimately agreed in a legal settlement to pay the exonerated men $41 million.

The case was subsequently investigated in detail as the five people were accused of being intimidated and forced to make false confessions.

The case came at a time of heightened racial tensions and crime that dominated headlines. Trump, then a real estate mogul, had called for the reintroduction of the death penalty in New York in major newspaper advertisements.

The defamation lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The complaint noted that Salaam, a New York City Council member who represents District Nine, was present at the debate and was in the room when Trump made these statements.

The five men did not demand a specific amount of compensation, but requested that a trial be held to determine damages.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said Monday: “This is just another frivolous election interference lawsuit filed by desperate left-wing activists to distract the American people from Kamala Harris' dangerously liberal agenda and her failed campaign.”

Shanin Specter, an attorney for the five, said Monday: “Unfortunately, the civil justice system does not allow us to require Mr. Trump to apologize or retract his statement.” The most we can achieve is damages, both for these five men both to compensate Mr. Trump for damaging their reputation and to punish Mr. Trump for these statements.”

While he said it would be “helpful” if Trump apologized or retracted his statements, he said, “We're not holding our breath for that.”