US prosecutors add torture charge against former Venezuelan leader Maduro

 US federal prosecutors have added a charge of conspiring to commit torture against former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, accusing them of overseeing a system of repression targeting political opponents and detainees, including US citizens.

US federal prosecutors have added a charge of conspiring to commit torture against former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, accusing them of overseeing a system of repression targeting political opponents and detainees, including US citizens.

The new charge was included in a revised indictment unsealed on October 8 in federal court in Manhattan. It adds to existing charges accusing the couple of conspiring to traffic cocaine into the United States, engaging in narco-terrorism and committing weapons offences.

According to the indictment, Maduro and Flores allegedly helped maintain a system in which Venezuelan security and military officials used physical and psychological torture to suppress dissent and protect the government’s hold on power.

Prosecutors allege that detainees were subjected to electric shocks, severe beatings, asphyxiation, sexual assault, forced nudity, starvation and prolonged isolation. The indictment also describes alleged abuses against US citizens detained in Venezuela.

The indictment alleges that Maduro was personally involved in decisions concerning torture methods and received updates on the treatment of specific detainees. In one case, prosecutors say, he watched a video of a forced confession and threatened to have a prisoner’s child killed as a form of psychological torture.

Prosecutors also allege that, in 2014, Maduro instructed officials to intensify questioning of military personnel suspected of disloyalty. According to the indictment, he urged officials to “squeeze them harder” when some detainees resisted questioning.

Flores, a former Venezuelan lawmaker and first lady, is accused of helping develop the system of repression and ordering specific abuses, according to the indictment. The allegations have not been established in court.

Maduro and Flores were captured by US forces in Caracas in January and have since been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.

The couple previously pleaded not guilty to the drug-trafficking and related charges. They have argued that Maduro is entitled to head-of-state immunity, while their lawyers have challenged the legality of the US operation that brought them to the country.

The new torture charge is an allegation, and both defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.