NEW YORK: Ousted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his spouse Cilia Flores pleaded not responsible Thursday (Oct 15) to new torture charges brought against the pair held in US custody since their extraordinary capture in January.
They appeared at a New York courtroom after prosecutors alleged they conspired to commit acts together with waterboardings, rapes and beatings towards victims, together with Americans, in Venezuelan detention.
Maduro, who has beforehand known as himself a “prisoner of conflict,” slammed the most recent fees as “false accusations” throughout a 35-minute listening to.
Requested by the decide how he pleaded to the indictment towards him, the 63-year-old responded, “I reject this doc in its entirety.”
Flores, who wore the identical brown jail jumpsuit as Maduro, stated: “I’m fully harmless, I’m not responsible.”
In accordance with prosecutors, the couple used torture to “intimidate, harass, and neutralize their opponents, together with via kidnappings.”
Maduro “presided over” a system of repression and torture, whereas Flores helped him to develop it, based on a charging doc.
In a single 2022 occasion, Venezuelan authorities allegedly tortured an American who they accused of plotting to assassinate Maduro.
“That torture included electrical shock to arms, legs, and genitals; asphyxiation; beatings; deprivation of meals and water; and compelled injections of a substance that induced (the sufferer) to expertise seizures,” a courtroom submitting states.
Throughout his 2013-2026 presidency, rights teams extensively accused Maduro of utilizing political repression to cling to energy.
