Maduro Pleads Not Guilty to New Torture Charge

Former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife have pleaded not guilty to a new charge of torture.

Maduro and Cilia Flores appeared before U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in New York on Oct. 15 to enter their plea in response to a subsequent indictment accusing the two of torturing political opponents and Americans.

When asked by Hellerstein whether he had seen a copy of the new indictment, Maduro said, “I have seen it in entirety. I have seen that it is false allegations and false accusations. I reject this document in its entirety as false accusations and false testimony.”

Hellerstein entered a not guilty plea on Maduro’s behalf.

The judge then asked Flores whether she had read the subsequent indictment.

“I am completely innocent. I am not guilty,” she replied.

Maduro and Flores “created and maintained a violent system of repression,” according to the indictment. Thousands of Venezuelans were harassed, threatened, arrested, prosecuted, assaulted, tortured, or killed by Maduro and other regime officials between 1999 and 2025, it said.

According to prosecutors, after assuming the presidency in 2013, Maduro ordered the arrest of a Venezuelan military officer he accused of planning a coup.

The officer, who is only identified in the indictment as “Victim-2,” was detained by military counterintelligence officials and was interrogated and questioned for about two days. The individual was shocked by officials using a live electric wire approximately 20 times, according to the indictment.

The individual was struck by officials on his legs, back, and head, according to prosecutors, was forced to lie on a mattress containing just metal springs, and was hung from his hands and feet for several minutes at a time, losing consciousness.

Military counterintelligence officials threatened to kill the individual, according to the indictment. He was ultimately spared as he was forced to record a false confession that he was planning a coup against Maduro. The individual was released near the Colombia–Venezuela border.

According to prosecutors, the person was transported to a camp in Colombia near the border with Venezuela, where the individual was allegedly held in “inhumane conditions.”

Nine years later, a U.S. citizen, only identified as “Victim-7,” was detained while entering Venezuela and was accused of conspiring to assassinate Maduro. Military counterintelligence officers tortured the individual, according to prosecutors.

The person was released and returned to the United States after spending about 8.5 months behind bars, according to the indictment.

In August 2023, military counterintelligence officials detained an American citizen, only identified by prosecutors as “Victim-8,” while he was traveling to Venezuela. The individual was allegedly attacked by officers from behind, and his back was severely injured. He was hospitalized before being transported to a prison, according to the indictment.

On the way to the prison, officers put a gun in the individual’s mouth and told him “to say goodbye to everyone he knew,” according to the indictment. His testicles were electrocuted, and a pressure device was put on his ankles, causing him to faint several times during the transport, they said.

The individual was subjected to beatings and other abuses in prison, according to prosecutors, and the person was allegedly told that the only reason he was alive was that he was a U.S. citizen and therefore could be part of a prisoner exchange with the United States.

In January 2025, military counterintelligence officials arrested another U.S. citizen at his home as they were looking for someone else, according to the indictment. He was allegedly placed by officers in the basement of the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence, handcuffed behind his back, and a hood was placed over his head. He was frequently beaten by officers on the face, head, and stomach, according to the indictment.

Because of the beatings, the person, only identified in the indictment as “Victim-9,” suffered a permanent injury to his eye, it said.

The U.S. citizen was released a year later. Along with other Americans, he was threatened by an unnamed Venezuelan official, who allegedly told them that they were not to say that they had been hurt by the Venezuelan government.

Maduro and Flores are not accused of personally carrying out acts of torture.

The United States captured Maduro and Flores in January in a military operation. The two were charged with narcoterrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and weapons offenses. They have pleaded not guilty.

During his arraignment in January, Maduro said that he is “a decent man” and called his capture a kidnapping, making him a “prisoner of war.”

Flores has yet to respond to her capture.

Maduro and Flores’s attorneys, Barry Pollack and Mark Donnelly, respectively, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times on the superseding indictment.

Hallerstein pushed the trial date back from June 1 to June 14. If convicted on all charges, Maduro and Flores face a minimum of 50 years in prison.

The next time the Justice Department, Pollack, and Donnelly will be in court will be Dec. 17, for arguments over whether Maduro has sovereign immunity, having been a head of state.

Reuters contributed to this report.