NEW YORK — Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro told a federal court Thursday that newly unsealed allegations accusing him and his wife of torture were “false accusations.”
Maduro and Cilia Flores appeared in court with shackles around their ankles as prosecutors presented a rewritten indictment. The case now goes beyond the original drug-trafficking charges, alleging that the couple directed a state-backed campaign of repression involving the torture of dozens of people, including three Americans.
Maduro twice declined to enter a plea when asked by the judge, instead denouncing the allegations through a courtroom interpreter as “false accusations and false testimony.” Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein then entered a not-guilty plea for him, saying, “a plea of not guilty will be entered on behalf of Mr. Maduro.”
Flores took a different approach. After confirming that she had reviewed a Spanish-language version of the amended indictment, she told the judge through the interpreter, “I am completely innocent. I am not guilty.”
U.S. military personnel seized the couple from their home in Caracas during a nighttime raid in January. Under a schedule approved Thursday, their trial is set to begin June 14, 2027—two weeks later than originally planned.
As in earlier hearings, Maduro and Flores followed the proceedings through headphones connected to a courtroom translator. Maduro, wearing glasses, periodically reviewed documents in front of him.
Maduro waved toward the gallery as he entered and shook hands with attorney Barry Pollack. Flores greeted another lawyer, Mark Donnelly, with a kiss on the cheek.
Pollack said last week that Maduro, 63, rejects the charges and “looks forward to his day in court.”
Pollack supported the government’s request to postpone the trial until June 14. He described the timetable as “very aggressive” in light of the expanded allegations but said the defense hoped to meet it.
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The revised indictment portrays Maduro as the overseer of a violent torture network that allegedly beat victims, suffocated them and subjected them to electric shocks. Prosecutors say he personally suggested torture techniques, received reports about the treatment of individual detainees and threatened to kill one prisoner’s child as psychological punishment.
Flores, 70, who previously served as Venezuela’s attorney general, allegedly helped build the system of repression and ordered the torture of specific individuals, according to the indictment.
Maduro led Venezuela from 2013 until his capture in January. The International Criminal Court has investigated him for years over alleged crimes against humanity connected to his crackdown on political opponents. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Torture is prohibited under international law and may be prosecuted outside the country where it occurred, regardless of the victims’ nationalities. Still, cases against foreign officials in the United States are exceptionally uncommon. Previous prosecutions have included the son of Liberian President Charles Taylor, Russians accused of war crimes in Ukraine and a former prison warden from Bashar Assad’s Syria.
Earlier this year, Maduro and Flores pleaded not guilty to the U.S. drug charges, which allege that they conspired to send large quantities of cocaine into the country. Their lawyers argue that the case should be dismissed because of immunity tied to their former positions as Venezuela’s president and first lady.
The amended indictment extends the torture allegations back to 2013, when Maduro succeeded his political mentor, Hugo Chávez, who died of cancer that year.
Maduro and Flores are scheduled to return to court for another pretrial hearing on Dec. 17.
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