The hearing in New York

Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores pleaded not guilty on Thursday, 15 October, before Judge Alvin Hellerstein at a federal court in New York. The hearing lasted about thirty minutes, and the couple appeared in beige detainee uniforms. Maduro, who is 63, called the indictment a set of allegations already presented earlier, based on false accusations and false testimony against him. Hellerstein treated his answer as a not guilty plea and had it entered on his behalf. Flores, who is 70, said through an interpreter that she was completely innocent.

What the new charges allege

Prosecutors allege that Maduro led a state-backed campaign of repression in which dozens of victims were tortured between 2013 and 2026. Reports differ on the American share of those victims: one account names three US citizens, while another says more than a dozen US citizens were unlawfully held and tortured in Venezuelan prisons. According to the indictment, Maduro ordered officials to torture opposition politicians and military personnel accused of plotting against him, personally recommended torture methods and received updates on specific victims. The filing also says he threatened to kill the son of a prisoner as psychological torture, and that methods included beatings, asphyxiation and electric shocks. Flores, the indictment states, helped develop the repressive system and ordered the torture of specific people.

The filing describes a 2013 case, without naming the officer, in which a military officer whom Maduro suspected of preparing a coup was arrested and handed to military intelligence. Prosecutors say he was beaten and given repeated electric shocks during detention. The document also says torture was used after anti-government protests in 2014 to intimidate political opponents. The conspiracy-to-torture count is new, while the couple already faced charges dating to 2020 for narcoterrorism, cocaine trafficking and weapons offences, which they have rejected.

Capture, custody and immunity

The couple have been held in Brooklyn since US forces captured them in Caracas in January. One account puts the death toll of that operation at more than a hundred people. Delcy Rodríguez, previously the vice president, has served as acting president since then. The State Department and prosecutors urged Hellerstein to reject any immunity claims, arguing that Washington does not recognise Maduro as legitimate since the 2018 elections and that the alleged crimes fall outside official acts. Maduro's lawyer, Barry Pollack, said his client denies all charges and is waiting for his day in court. Reports give different start dates for the trial: one says 14 June 2027, another says 1 June 2027.

Chavismo's response

Freddy Bernal, governor of Táchira state, demanded absolute freedom for Flores on her 70th birthday in an audio posted to Instagram. He said the couple are being held in the United States after what he called their kidnapping.

“Cilia Flores, kidnapped in a vile manner on 3 January by an imperial power, violating all the rules of international law.”

Iris Varela wrote on X that the hearing date was no coincidence and called it a miserable move. Delcy Rodríguez, Jorge Rodríguez and Diosdado Cabello had not commented on the hearing.