Nicolás Maduro, the deposed socialist dictator of Venezuela, pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of conspiracy to commit torture inside a federal courtroom in Brooklyn. His wife, Cilia Flores, entered the same plea.
The torture charges, filed last week, accuse the pair of building and directing a state-run system of repression that tortured numerous victims, including several American citizens. Prosecutors allege the system subjected political opponents and dissidents to electric shock, asphyxiation, rape, forced nudity, prolonged isolation, starvation, punishment cells, and psychological torture, including threats to kill victims’ families. The alleged conduct dates back to 2013, the year Maduro took control of the regime.
Maduro and Flores have been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since January, when U.S. forces arrested them in a law enforcement operation in Caracas. Both also face separate drug trafficking charges, with that trial set to begin in June 2027.
When U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein asked Maduro to enter his plea Thursday, the former dictator did not answer directly.
“I have seen that it is the sum of concepts, allegations that were already presented previously, of false accusations and false testimony against me,” Maduro said, according to Politico.
Hellerstein interrupted him and asked again, “How do you plead, guilty or not guilty?” Maduro kept talking, saying, “I reject this document in its entirety of false accusations and false testimony.” The judge cut him off and entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
“I am completely innocent. I am not guilty,” Flores said through a translator, according to reports from the hearing.
Fox News reported that Maduro waved to the courtroom gallery and shook hands with his lead attorney, Barry Pollack. The former dictator appeared thinner than he had at earlier hearings and spent the proceeding reading papers in front of him and taking notes on a pad.
Maduro led Venezuela’s socialist regime since March 2013, after predecessor Hugo Chávez died of cancer. Chávez had personally named Maduro his successor on December 8, 2012, a date the regime later turned into an official holiday honoring Chávez. Flores held the title of “First Combatant,” a designation the regime used to elevate her status above that of a traditional first lady.
