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

Maduro and wife appear in New York City court after new ‘conspiracy to commit torture’ charges.

Police guard the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse [File: AFP]

Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores have pleaded not guilty to new charges of ‘conspiracy to commit torture’, which were unsealed last week.

Maduro and Flores appeared in a New York City courtroom on Thursday after being abducted from Caracas in a United States military operation in January.

list 1 of 3 Venezuelans rally for opposition leader’s return and presidential elections

list 2 of 3 To the victor belong Venezuela’s spoils: Delcy Rodriguez’s UNGA about-face

list 3 of 3 Venezuelan government, opposition agree to work towards reform of top court

The pair had previously pleaded not guilty to several other charges, including narco-terrorism, cocaine importation conspiracy and possession of machineguns and destructive devices.

Maduro spoke briefly at his January court appearance, days after the US military abduction.

“I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I am still president of my country,” Maduro said then, adding that he had been “kidnapped”.

US Attorney Jamie McDonald said last week that the couple had for more than two decades “engaged in a conspiracy to commit torture, including the torture of United States citizens, in addition to the narcotics trafficking and weapons offences already charged”.

The new indictment said that Maduro and Flores oversaw a system of torture, arbitrary detention, and violence as a means to target “individuals viewed as disloyal or a threat to their illegal narcotics activity” as well as a “means of repression against the political opposition”.

It pointed to several instances where Maduro and Flores are alleged to have specifically identified individuals to be targeted, asked for updates on the torture, or suggested techniques.

In one instance in 2014, Maduro urged his enforcers to work harder to extract information from detained military personnel, according to the indictment.

“Squeeze them harder,” he allegedly said. In another, Maduro is accused of suggesting sleep deprivation and pouring water on detainees.

Abuses committed under Maduro’s rule included beatings, electrocutions and threatening family members of detainees, the indictment said. US prosecutors did not accuse Maduro or Flores of directly taking part in the torture.

Maduro became president of Venezuela in 2013, and his re-elections, most recently in 2024, were repeatedly contested by opposition figures and outside monitors.

Interim President Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro’s vice president, has led the country since Maduro’s abduction in January.

She had initially decried the US action as “illegal, illegitimate kidnapping”.

However, she has since remained close to the Trump administration, including overseeing efforts to open the country’s state-owned oil industry to foreign companies.

马杜罗和妻子因新的“合谋实施酷刑”指控在纽约市法院出庭。

警察守卫着丹尼尔·帕特里克·莫伊尼汉美国联邦法院 [图片：法新社]

委内瑞拉总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗和他的妻子西莉亚·弗洛雷斯对上周公布的“合谋实施酷刑”的新指控拒不不认罪。

马杜罗和弗洛雷斯于周四在纽约市法庭出庭，此前他们于1月份在美国军事行动中从加拉加斯被绑架。

委内瑞拉民众集会呼吁反对派领导人回国并举行总统选举（共3条，此为第1条）

列表 2/3：委内瑞拉的战利品归胜利者所有：德尔西·罗德里格斯在联合国大会上的180度大转弯

委内瑞拉政府和反对派同意共同努力改革最高法院（名单3/3）

此前，两人已对包括毒品恐怖主义、可卡因走私阴谋以及持有机关枪和爆炸装置在内的其他几项指控表示不认罪。

马杜罗在1月份的庭审中发表了简短讲话，当时距离美国军方绑架事件发生仅几天时间。

“我是无辜的。我没有罪。我是一个正派的人。我仍然是我国家的总统，”马杜罗当时说道，并补充说他被“绑架”了。

美国检察官杰米·麦克唐纳上周表示，这对夫妇二十多年来“参与了一项阴谋，实施酷刑，包括对美国公民实施酷刑，此外还有已被指控的毒品贩运和武器犯罪”。

新的起诉书称，马杜罗和弗洛雷斯监督实施了一套酷刑、任意拘留和暴力制度，以此作为打击“被视为不忠或对其非法毒品活动构成威胁的个人”以及“镇压政治反对派的手段”。

报告指出，有好几起事件表明，马杜罗和弗洛雷斯曾明确指出要针对哪些人，要求提供酷刑的最新进展，或者提出酷刑技巧。

起诉书称，2014 年，马杜罗曾敦促其执法人员更加努力地从被拘留的军人那里获取信息。

据称他曾说：“用力掐他们。”另一起事件中，马杜罗被指控建议剥夺被拘留者的睡眠，并向他们身上泼水。

起诉书称，马杜罗统治时期犯下的暴行包括殴打、电击和威胁被拘留者的家属。美国检方并未指控马杜罗或弗洛雷斯直接参与酷刑。

马杜罗于 2013 年成为委内瑞拉总统，他的连任，最近一次是在 2024 年，屡次遭到反对派人士和外部观察员的质疑。

自马杜罗1月份被绑架以来，临时总统德尔西·罗德里格斯（马杜罗的副总统）一直领导着这个国家。

她最初谴责美国的行动是“非法、不正当的绑架”。

然而，此后她一直与特朗普政府保持密切联系，包括监督向外国公司开放该国国有石油行业的各项工作。