Venezuela’s Maduro pleads not guilty to US conspiracy to torture charges

What the report says

Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty in a New York City courtroom on Friday to newly unsealed U.S. charges of conspiracy to commit torture, according to Al Jazeera. The hearing took place at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse and follows earlier criminal allegations against the couple, including narco-terrorism, cocaine-importation conspiracy, and weapons-related offenses.

Al Jazeera reported that the new indictment says Maduro and Flores oversaw a system of torture, arbitrary detention, and violence used against people viewed as disloyal or as a threat to alleged narcotics activity, as well as political opponents. Prosecutors say the abuse included beatings, electrocutions, threats to family members, and pressure on detainees for information. The U.S. attorney said the conduct stretched over more than two decades, although prosecutors did not accuse either defendant of personally carrying out the torture.

The article also noted that Maduro was brought to New York after a U.S. military operation in January, and that he had already denied prior charges at an earlier court appearance, calling himself innocent and saying he had been kidnapped. Maduro has been Venezuela’s president since 2013, while the report says his vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, has been leading the country since his abduction. The case adds to long-running U.S.-Venezuela tensions and to disputes over Maduro’s legitimacy at home and abroad.