Not guilty pleas in New York
Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela's former president, and his wife Cilia Flores appeared on Thursday before a New York court and pleaded not guilty to new charges of conspiracy to commit torture. The US government had initially accused Maduro of narcoterrorism, drug trafficking and weapons-related offenses before adding new charges against him and Flores the previous week. The couple were captured in January during a US military incursion and later transferred to New York, where they remain imprisoned. Both have pleaded innocent and asked for the case to be dismissed, arguing they have sovereign immunity. The trial is scheduled for June 2027.[S1]
The hearing before federal judge Alvin Hellerstein addressed the charges in the updated indictment against both, which also extended to Flores the accusation of conspiracy to commit narcoterrorism, until then directed only at Maduro, according to CNN as reported by Clarín.[S2]
Prosecution allegations and defense response
In a new indictment filed the previous week, prosecutors allege that after assuming the presidency in 2013, Maduro authorized the use of torture against specific individuals and oversaw a system designed to employ torture, arbitrary detention and violence as means of repression against political opponents. The alleged torture was suffered by more than a dozen US citizens who were imprisoned in Venezuela while Maduro was in power. The indictment states that the torture methods used included electric shocks, suffocation, rape, forced nudity, prolonged isolation, food deprivation, confinement in punishment cells and psychological torture.[S1]
Maduro denied the new charges against him and told the court on Thursday that he rejected the false accusations and false testimonies supporting them. He said in Spanish that he rejected the document completely. Judge Alvin Hellerstein interrupted Maduro and stated that the court would enter a plea of not guilty on his behalf. Flores said she was completely innocent and not guilty. Maduro and Flores wore beige prison uniforms; both appeared to have lost weight during their detention in Brooklyn.[S1]
Earlier charges and immunity arguments
Prosecutors had already accused Maduro, his wife, his son and his accomplices of participating in a conspiracy to traffic cocaine and of collaborating with cartels designated as terrorist groups. Maduro previously described such charges as a tool to promote imperialist plans aimed at gaining access to Venezuela's abundant oil reserves. Lawyers for Maduro and his wife have argued that, as the leader of a sovereign country, Maduro enjoys immunity from any judicial process. They maintain that the fact that the United States forcibly took him is illegal. Flores unsuccessfully asked a judge a few weeks ago to allow her release on bail while awaiting trial, arguing that she suffered from heart problems and other health issues.[S1]
