Venezuela's former leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, appeared in a New York court on Thursday and pleaded not guilty to new charges of conspiracy to commit torture.
The US government had already accused Maduro of narco-terrorism, drug trafficking and weapons-related offences, and added the new charges last week. Prosecutors allege that the couple maintained a violent system of repression in which thousands of Venezuelans were killed, harassed and tortured. Maduro told the court he rejected the document entirely, and Flores said she was completely innocent.
The couple were captured in January during a US military raid and remain in jail in Brooklyn. Both have argued the case should be thrown out on the grounds of sovereign immunity, and their trial is scheduled for June 2027.
Source: BBC News, 16 October 2026