Venezuelan President Maduro and wife Cilia Flores plead not guilty to new U.S. torture charges as judge delays trial to June 14, 2027

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty Thursday in a Manhattan federal court to new U.S. charges of torture. A rewritten indictment accuses them of overseeing a violent system that committed torture against victims, including U.S. citizens held in Venezuelan detention.

Maduro called the allegations “false accusations and false testimony.” Flores told the judge she was “completely innocent and not guilty.” The couple had previously pleaded not guilty to drug-trafficking and firearms charges. The judge postponed the start of the trial by two weeks, to June 14, 2027, following the introduction of the new charges.

Maduro’s lawyers have sought to have the case dismissed, arguing that he was Venezuela’s incumbent president when he was captured and was therefore entitled to immunity from foreign criminal jurisdiction.

On January 3, U.S. forces launched a military operation in Venezuela, forcibly seizing Maduro and Flores and transporting them to New York. They have been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since their capture in Caracas.