Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro pleads not guilty to torture
Ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, each pleaded not guilty Thursday to new charges accusing them of torturing people, including Americans, to help them cling to power.
Maduro, in a beige jail smock over a brown T-shirt and wearing glasses, greeted the audience with a wave and shook hands with his attorneys.
Asked how he pleaded to the charges contained in a superseding indictment, Maduro responded, "I reject this document in its entirety" and called the accusations of torture "false."
Maduro and his wife are scheduled to stand trial on June 14, 2027.
Federal prosecutors accused Maduro of conspiring with his wife to torture individuals who were held in Venezuelan prisons, according to a criminal indictment unsealed last week.
The indictment accused his government of torturing Americans because Maduro "assigned blame to the United States for the instability in Venezuela."
Federal prosecutors alleged Maduro "presided over this system of repression and torture" and his wife, Cilia Flores, is accused of helping him develop it.
"When Maduro became President of Venezuela in or about 2013, he authorized the use of torture against specific individuals and oversaw a system designed to use torture, military detention, and violence as a means of repression against the political opposition," the indictment alleged.
Maduro was charged by superseding indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit torture and Flores was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit torture and one count of narcoterrorism.
Both previously pleaded not guilty to narcoterrorism and drug trafficking charges and maintained their innocence during their first court appearance in January, following their capture by U.S. forces in a military operation in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas.
Maduro's lawyer argued in a court filing last month that the former president is immune from prosecution because he was the leader of a sovereign nation.
