Venezuela’s former chief Nicolás Maduro and his spouse, Cilia Flores, appeared in court on Thursday to plead not guilty to new fees of conspiracy to commit torture.
The US authorities initially accused Maduro of narco-terrorism, drug trafficking and weapons-related offenses, before including new fees against him and Flores last week.
Maduro and Flores were captured in January during a US navy raid, after which they were taken to New York, where they stay in jail.
The couple has pleaded not guilty to the allegations and both have argued to have the case thrown out on the grounds that they qualify for sovereign immunity. Their trial is scheduled for June 2027.
In a new indictment last week, authorities prosecutors alleged Maduro and Flores “created and maintained a violent system of repression” that saw “thousands of Venezuelans” killed, harassed, and tortured.
Nicolas Maduro denied the new fees introduced against him by the US authorities, telling a court on Thursday he denied the “false accusations and false testimony against me.”
“I reject this document entirely,” Maduro said in Spanish through a translator.
Judge Alvin Hellerstein interrupted Maduro, and declared the court would enter a plea of not guilty for Maduro.
“I am completely innocent. I am not guilty,” Flores said through a translator.
Maduro and Flores wore beige jail uniforms and both seem to have lost weight during their detention in Brooklyn.
The alleged torture strategies included “electric shock, asphyxiation, rape, forced nudity, prolonged isolation, starvation, punishment cells, and psychological torture”, the indictment states.
The US also accused Maduro of authorising the use of torture “against specific individuals” and alleges US residents were tortured under this system.
Prosecutors already have accused Maduro, his spouse and son, and their accomplices of partaking in a cocaine-trafficking conspiracy and partnering with cartels designated as terrorist teams.
Maduro beforehand called such fees a instrument to further “imperial” plans for getting access to Venezuela’s wealthy oil reserves.
He and his spouse’s legal professionals have argued that Maduro is the chief of a sovereign nation and therefore immune from prosecution. They contend the US taking him by drive is unlawful.
Flores unsuccessfully petitioned a decide to enable her to be launched on bond while she awaited trial, arguing she had coronary heart issues and other health points while detained at the infamous Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
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