Maduro rips ‘false accusations,’ pleads not guilty to new torture charge

Making his first court appearance since July, the former Venezuelan president wholly rejected federal prosecutors’ latest accusations against him.MANHATTAN (CN) — Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Adela Flores de Maduro, pleaded not guilty Thursday to a new indictment charging him with torturing political rivals and United States citizens.Draped in beige prison garb and shackled at the ankles, Maduro decried the “false accusations and false testimony against me” in the superseding indictment, unsealed last week by federal prosecutors. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein cut him off and urged him to enter his plea.“I reject this document in its entirety,” Maduro told the judge.The government unsealed the new charge — conspiracy to commit torture — during a bail hearing last week for Flores, who unsuccessfully argued for her release amid health concerns. Maduro was not present for that hearing.Thursday was Maduro’s first appearance in the Manhattan courthouse since July. As he’d done in prior appearances, the defiant ex-president enthusiastically greeted the gallery with a wave when marshals ushered him into the courtroom.Hellerstein agreed to push the trial back from June 1, 2027, to June 14 in light of the newly charged conduct, pursuant to a joint request from the parties. Maduro’s lawyer Barry Pollock called the mere two-week delay “aggressive,” considering the significance of the fresh charges, but said he believes the parties can stick to it.The new indictment builds on the existing narco-terrorism case against the former first couple. Maduro and Flores are now accused of directing the torture of at least nine victims, three of them U.S. citizens.“That torture included electric shock, asphyxiation, rape, forced nudity, prolonged isolation, starvation, punishment cells and psychological torture, such as threats to harm and kill victims’ families, including children,” prosecutors claim in the superseding indictment.The government says the crimes date back to 2006, when Maduro and Flores started directing members of their security detail to brutalize and kill those who undermined their supposed drug trafficking operations. In recent years, as the relationship between Venezuela and the U.S. turned increasingly tense, prosecutors claim that violence has extended to Americans.In one 2022 instance, Venezuelan officers detained a visiting U.S. citizen and falsely accused him of trying to assassinate Maduro.“Among other things, the officers punched him in the face and abdomen, covered his face, and poured a noxious liquid over his face that caused him to vomit, which the officer then forced him to eat,” the government claims.Prosecutors say officers also subjected the victim to electrical shocks on his genitals and forcible injections with a substance that gave him seizures. He spent more than eight months in custody until eventually being returned to the U.S.The man was one of three U.S. citizens, one captured as recently as 2025, identified as torture victims in the new indictment. Maduro and Flores are also accused of directing the torture of Venezuelan officials they suspected of being disloyal, including one in 2010 who was detained and beaten by members of the Bolivarian National Guard.“Those security officers did so inside a military trailer, tying up Official-1’s hands and feet, striking him with a shovel and with the butts of National Guard long guns, kicking him in the groin, shooting him in his left leg near his knee and raping him with a broomstick, resulting in extensive injuries to Official-1, including to his genitalia,” the government claims.Maduro and Flores were captured by U.S. military forces in January after federal prosecutors charged them with running an international cocaine trafficking conspiracy to cling to power and enrich Venezuela’s political elite. The lethal operation by the Trump administration prompted significant backlash, with critics likening Maduro’s capture to an act of war.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads