Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, return to a New York courtroom to face a rewritten indictment alleging state-sponsored torture. The charges expand on an earlier drug trafficking case.
Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are scheduled to return to a New York courtroom on Thursday to face a rewritten indictment. The new charges accuse the couple of leading a state-sponsored campaign of repression that tortured scores of victims, including three Americans.
The rewritten indictment adds torture charges to a drug trafficking case brought against Maduro and Flores months earlier. According to the indictment, Maduro oversaw a violent torture system that beat, asphyxiated, and delivered electric shocks to its victims. The document accuses Maduro of personally recommending torture methods, receiving updates on specific victims’ treatment, and threatening to kill one prisoner’s child as a form of psychological torture.
Flores, 69, a former attorney general, is alleged to have helped develop the repressive system and ordered the torture of some specific people. The revised indictment covers allegations of torture stretching back to Maduro’s ascent to power in 2013, when he took over as president from his mentor Hugo Chávez, who died of cancer that year.
Maduro, 63, and Flores were seized from their Caracas home by the U.S. military in a nighttime raid in January. They were expected to plead not guilty in Manhattan federal court to the newly added charges. Earlier this year, the couple pleaded not guilty in the U.S. drug case, which alleged they conspired to flood the U.S. with cocaine.
Attorney Barry Pollack stated when the charges were announced last week that Maduro denies them and “looks forward to his day in court.” Their attorneys have argued that the case should be dismissed on immunity grounds because they were the leader and first lady of a foreign country.
Maduro served as Venezuela’s president from 2013 until his capture in January. He has been under investigation for years by the International Criminal Court over allegations of crimes against humanity, tied to his crackdown on opponents. Maduro has always denied wrongdoing.
The addition of torture charges to the existing drug trafficking indictment marks a significant expansion of the legal allegations against the former Venezuelan leadership. The case involves high-profile accusations of state-sponsored violence against both Venezuelan citizens and American nationals, raising complex legal questions regarding sovereign immunity and the jurisdiction of U.S. courts over foreign heads of state.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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