The former president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty today to new charges filed against them in the U.S., alleging conspiracy to torture their political opponents.
The additional charges expand the indictment against 63-year-old Maduro and 70-year-old Flores, who have already pleaded not guilty to abuse of power with the intent to help drug traffickers export cocaine by ship.
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Maduro and Flores, who were arrested by the U.S. military last January on the orders of President Donald Trump and transported to New York, appeared today before Judge Alvin Hellerstein in federal court in Manhattan.
According to prosecutors, Maduro had ordered officials to torture opposition politicians and military officers accused of conspiring against him.
In one incident described in the indictment, in 2014, Maduro allegedly ordered officials to abduct military personnel and extract information from them about potential dissidents. He even told them to “put more pressure on them” when some of them refused to talk.
Flores agreed to this plan and rejected an alternative plan that called for “infiltrating” the ranks of the dissidents.
Maduro and Flores are not accused of personally participating in acts of torture.
Their trial is scheduled for June 1, 2027, and they could face up to 50 years in prison if found guilty on all counts.
Source: Protothema.gr
