Former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were charged Thursday with conspiracy to commit torture, adding a new count to the drug trafficking case they already face in a Manhattan federal court.
Prosecutors said the couple oversaw a system of repression that used violence, arbitrary detention and torture against political opponents and detainees, including US citizens, to maintain their grip on power.
The superseding indictment alleges the torture included electric shock, asphyxiation, rape, forced nudity, prolonged isolation, starvation, punishment cells and psychological abuse such as threats to kill victims’ families, including children.
“He authorized the use of torture against specific individuals and oversaw a system designed to use torture, arbitrary detention and violence as a means of repression against the political opposition,” the revised indictment states.
Flores is accused of helping develop the repressive system, ordering the torture of specific individuals and receiving updates on the treatment of certain prisoners.
Maduro, 63, and Flores, 69, have been held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center since their capture by US forces in a January raid on their Caracas compound. They pleaded not guilty to earlier narco-terrorism, drug trafficking and money-laundering charges. Their trial is scheduled for June 1.
In one alleged incident cited by prosecutors, Maduro in 2013 ordered the arrest of a Venezuelan military officer suspected of planning a coup. Interrogators then shocked the officer with a live electric wire around 20 times and hung him by the hands and feet for several minutes at a time.
A conviction on the new charge could carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 50 years. Lawyers for the couple have previously sought dismissal of the case on immunity grounds. Flores appeared in court Thursday seeking release for health reasons, but the request was denied.
