US adds torture conspiracy charges against Venezuela's Maduro and wife Cilia Flores

Federal prosecutors in New York on the 8th brought additional charges of conspiracy to torture against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, who were captured in a US military operation in January. Asahi Shimbun reported that the US Justice Department announced a federal grand jury in New York State had returned the charges against Maduro, 63, and Flores, 69, saying they had ordered specific individuals to be unlawfully detained and tortured, including US citizens. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]

"Maduro, his wife Flores and senior officials close to them systematically carried out torture in order to maintain power in Venezuela," the federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York said, according to TBS NEWS DIG. Mainichi Shimbun reported that, according to the indictment, the couple and others directed the military and security agencies between 1999 and 2025 to threaten, detain and torture thousands of Venezuelans regarded as dissidents. Asahi reported that the indictment says the violence and repression intensified when the domestic political situation became unstable. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]

The indictment lists methods including electric shocks, sexual assault, suffocation, prolonged isolation, withholding food and threats to kill family members, Asahi reported, while Mainichi cited suspending people with their limbs bound. Mainichi reported that Americans had guns put in their mouths and were beaten once every 30 minutes for two days, leaving untreatable eye injuries. Asahi described a US citizen who travelled to Venezuela in August 2023 and was given electric shocks to the genitals. TBS described an American detained in 2022 over an alleged plot to assassinate Maduro, to whom Venezuelan military personnel applied electric shocks to the arms and genitals, and said Maduro approved methods devised by senior officials and received reports on the torture carried out. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]

Maduro denied the torture charges through his lawyer on the 8th, Mainichi reported, adding that Flores' position is not known. The couple had already denied the drug smuggling charges against them. Mainichi reported that conviction on all counts would mean more than 50 years in prison, and that the defence argues Maduro is immune from prosecution as head of state. [ 2 ]

A federal court on the 8th rejected Flores' request for release on health grounds. Mainichi reported she had cited heart problems and the court found a risk of flight. The couple, captured in a US raid on Caracas in January, are held in New York, Mainichi reported. TBS said they already faced four counts, including conspiring with drug organisations to smuggle cocaine. The first trial is scheduled for June 1 next year, according to Mainichi. [ 2 , 3 ]