Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores plead not guilty to new torture conspiracy charges in New York

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, National Assembly deputy Cilia Flores, appeared Thursday, October 15, before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to respond to new charges alleging conspiracy to commit torture. Both pleaded not guilty, according to Reuters.

When asked to enter his plea, Maduro said the accusations against him were false and rejected the charges in their entirety. Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein then recorded a not guilty plea. Flores also declared that she was completely innocent.

The new charges were filed by prosecutors on October 8 and relate to the alleged torture of political opponents and U.S. citizens detained in Venezuela. Prosecutors accuse the couple of maintaining power through persecution and violence against people they considered opponents. The allegations include harassment, threats, arrests, assaults, torture and killings carried out by individuals allegedly acting under Maduro’s government.

The hearing took place a week after Hellerstein denied Flores’ request for house arrest. Her lawyers had cited health concerns and what they described as a serious deterioration in her physical condition while detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

The trial, initially scheduled to begin on July 1, 2027, has been postponed by two weeks and is now set for July 14, 2027.

Maduro and Flores were taken into U.S. custody in January after an operation in Caracas and were transferred to the Brooklyn detention facility. They have denied the charges against them. Maduro has described himself as a “prisoner of war,” while his defense has challenged the proceedings and invoked the immunity he claims as a sitting head of state.