Maduro, wife plead not guilty to new US charges

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on Thursday pleaded not guilty to new U.S. charges of torture, reported Xinhua.

The couple was brought to a Manhattan federal court to face a rewritten indictment, which accuses them of overseeing a violent system that committed torture against victims, including U.S. citizens held in Venezuelan detention.

Maduro, in court, condemned the latest charges as "false accusations and false testimony," while Flores told the judge she was "completely innocent" and "not guilty."

The couple was previously charged with drug trafficking and firearms crimes, to which they pleaded not guilty.

The judge postponed the start of the trial by two weeks to June 14, 2027, due to the new charges.

Maduro's lawyers have sought to have the case dismissed, arguing that he was the incumbent president of Venezuela at the time of his capture and was therefore entitled to immunity from foreign criminal jurisdiction.

On Jan. 3, U.S. forces launched a military operation in Venezuela and forcibly seized Maduro and his wife before transporting them to New York. The couple has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since their capture in Caracas.