Maduro and wife plead not guilty to new US torture-conspiracy charges

Deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores pleaded not guilty Thursday to new US charges of conspiring to commit torture.

• Judge Alvin Hellerstein entered the plea on Maduro's behalf after he twice declined, calling the indictment "false accusations and false testimony."
• Flores told the New York court through an interpreter, "I am completely innocent. I am not guilty."
• US Attorney Jamie McDonald said the couple engaged for over two decades in a conspiracy to commit torture, including of US citizens.
• The indictment alleges the couple oversaw a torture system that beat, asphyxiated and electrocuted victims, including three Americans.
• Maduro and Flores were captured in January during a US military raid ordered by President Trump.
• The couple also face earlier drug-trafficking and narco-terrorism charges, with trial set for June 2027.
• They have argued for dismissal on sovereign immunity grounds, and Maduro called the charges a US plot to access Venezuela's oil.
• Maduro and Flores have been held in a Brooklyn prison since their January capture by US special forces.