Venezuela's Maduro, wife face new US charge over alleged torture

NEW YORK -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were charged by US authorities on Thursday with conspiracy to commit torture, according to an indictment filed in federal court in Manhattan.

"He (Maduro) authorized the use of torture against specific individuals and oversaw a system designed to use torture, arbitrary detention and violence as a means of repression against the political opposition," the indictment said.

Maduro had previously been charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy and weapons-related offenses, to which he pleaded not guilty.

A US judge ruled in July that Maduro and Flores will go on trial on June 1, 2027.

Maduro's lawyers have sought to have the case dismissed, arguing that he was the incumbent president of Venezuela at the time of his capture and was therefore entitled to immunity from foreign criminal jurisdiction.

On Jan. 3, US forces launched a military operation in Venezuela and forcibly seized Maduro and his wife before transporting them to New York. The couple has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since their capture in Caracas.