Maduro and Cilia Flores due in New York court Thursday over new torture charges

Updated charges against the couple

Prosecutors in Manhattan have added conspiracy to commit torture to the case against Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in an updated indictment filed on 8 October. The prosecution argues that the couple built and maintained a violent system of repression in Venezuela between 1999 and 2025, under which thousands of Venezuelans were harassed, detained, tortured or killed by people acting under the authority of the state. According to the filing, at least three US citizens are among the victims. On the same day, a request by Flores for house arrest on health grounds was rejected. The prosecution alleges that Maduro presided over the system, commanded security and military units responsible for torture, ordered illegal detentions and received reports on the treatment of specific prisoners. It accuses Flores of helping to develop the system and of ordering people tortured to shield the illicit activities of her relatives.

The 2014 episode and the drug case

Prosecutors describe one episode from 2014, in which Maduro allegedly ordered officials to abduct soldiers to extract information about possible dissidents. When some of the soldiers refused to talk, he allegedly told the officials to tighten the pressure on them. At the same meeting, Flores allegedly backed the plan and rejected an alternative that would have involved infiltrating armed groups to gather intelligence. Neither Maduro nor Flores is accused of carrying out any act of torture personally, so the charges target their alleged role in a conspiracy. The earlier counts, to which the couple already pleaded not guilty, accuse them of abusing their positions to help drug traffickers move cocaine. The case also includes conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, and possession and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. The narcoterrorism count, which previously named only Maduro, now also names Flores.

Thursday's hearing

The arraignment is set for 11:00 local time, or 15:00 GMT, on Thursday, 15 October, before US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in courtroom 26A of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan federal courthouse in Manhattan. At the hearing the charges will be read formally, after which the couple will be asked to enter their pleas. Their defence has said they will plead not guilty to the torture conspiracy charges and deny the torture allegations. Both remain in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in the Brooklyn district of New York. The hearing is the first step in a case that the judge has already scheduled through to a trial date and a later procedural hearing.

Custody, politics and what follows

US forces captured Maduro, 63, and Flores, 70, in a military operation in January that the reports date to 3 January in Caracas, and the two were taken to New York afterwards. Delcy Rodríguez, then vice president, took over as acting president of Venezuela after the operation, according to ABC. Trump has presented the capture and the restoration of relations with Venezuela as a key success of his foreign policy ahead of the 3 November midterm elections, in which Republicans are fighting to keep control of Congress. The trial is scheduled to begin on 1 June 2027, and each defendant faces a mandatory minimum of 50 years if convicted on all counts. On 17 November, the judge will consider a motion to dismiss the charges on sovereign immunity grounds, a request that US prosecutors oppose. ABC also reports that the State Department and prosecutors have urged the judge to reject any immunity claim, because they do not recognise Maduro as Venezuela's legitimate president since the 2018 elections.