Nicolás Maduro rejected new torture allegations during a New York court appearance on Thursday. A rewritten drug-trafficking indictment accuses the former Venezuelan president and his wife, Cilia Flores, of leading a state-backed campaign of repression that tortured scores of people, including three Americans.
Judge Alvin K Hellerstein entered not-guilty pleas for both defendants. Maduro, speaking through an interpreter, criticised the indictment rather than entering a plea when asked by the judge. Flores also denied the allegations.
Prosecutors allege that Maduro oversaw a system in which victims were beaten, asphyxiated and given electric shocks. The indictment accuses him of recommending torture methods and Flores, a former attorney general, of helping develop the system and ordering the torture of specific people.
US forces seized the couple from their Caracas home in January. Maduro, who led Venezuela from 2013 until then, has also faced a years-long International Criminal Court investigation into allegations of crimes against humanity linked to a crackdown on opponents. He has denied wrongdoing.
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