US adds torture charges to case against former Venezuelan president

Nicolás Maduro, the former president of Venezuela, and his wife Cilia Flores face new charges in the United States for allegedly conspiring to torture political opponents and American citizens. According to SABC News, prosecutors allege that the couple used repression to maintain their grip on power, including beatings and electric shocks.

The new charge expands an existing drug-trafficking case against them in New York, where both remain in custody. They have been held in Brooklyn since American forces captured them in Caracas in January and pleaded not guilty to the earlier drug charges.

Maduro and Flores are accused of involvement in the torture of a Venezuelan military officer in 2013 and an American detained in 2022, as per SABC News. Their trial is scheduled for June next year. A federal judge has rejected Flores' request for release on health grounds, with her lawyers citing a need for a cardiac procedure.

Brief written by urgent.news from Qatar Tribune, Channel News Asia, CBS News, SABC News, PBS NewsHour — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.