NEW YORK – Venezuela’s former leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, appeared in court on Thursday to plead not guilty to new charges of conspiracy to commit torture. The US government initially accused Maduro of narco-terrorism, drug trafficking and weapons-related offenses, before adding new charges against him and Flores last week.
Maduro and Flores were captured in January during a US military raid, after which they were taken to New York, where they remain in jail. The couple has pleaded not guilty to the allegations and both have argued to have the case thrown out on the grounds that they qualify for sovereign immunity. Their trial is scheduled for June 2027.
In a new indictment last week, government prosecutors alleged Maduro and Flores “created and maintained a violent system of repression” that saw “thousands of Venezuelans” killed, harassed, and tortured. Nicolas Maduro denied the new charges brought against him by the US government, telling a court on Thursday he denied the “false accusations and false testimony behind him.” “I reject this document entirely,” Maduro said in Spanish through a translator. Judge Alvin Hellerstein interrupted Maduro, and declared the court would enter a plea of not guilty for Maduro. “I am completely innocent. I am not guilty,” Flores said through a translator. Maduro and Flores wore beige jail uniforms and both appear to have lost weight during their detention in Brooklyn. The alleged torture methods included “electric shock, asphyxiation, rape, forced nudity, prolonged isolation, starvation, punishment cells, and psychological torture”, the indictment states. The US also accused Maduro of authorising the use of torture “against specific individuals” and alleges US citizens were tortured under this system. Prosecutors already have accused Maduro, his wife and son, and their accomplices of engaging in a cocaine-trafficking conspiracy and partnering with cartels designated as terrorist groups.
Maduro previously called such charges a tool to further “imperial” plans for getting access to Venezuela’s rich oil reserves. He and his wife’s lawyers have argued that Maduro is the leader of a sovereign country and therefore immune from prosecution. They contend the US taking him by force is illegal. Flores unsuccessfully petitioned a judge to allow her to be released on bond while she awaited trial, arguing she had heart problems and other health issues while detained at the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
