NEW YORK (AP) — Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro insisted in court on Thursday that newly unsealed torture allegations against him and his wife were “false accusations.”
Maduro and Cilia Flores, both shackled at the ankles, were brought to court to face a rewritten indictment that expands from an initial set of drug trafficking charges to accuse them of leading a state-sponsored repression campaign that tortured scores of victims, including three Americans.
Maduro twice defied a judge’s request that he enter a plea to the charges, instead condemning them through a courtroom interpreter as “false accusations and false testimony.” Irked, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein took matters into his own hands, interjecting that “a plea of not guilty will be entered on behalf of Mr. Maduro.”
Flores was less combative. After saying that she’d read through a version of the new indictment written in Spanish, she told the judge through the Spanish interpreter: “I am completely innocent. I am not guilty.”
They were seized from their Caracas home by the U.S. military in a nighttime raid in January. Their trial will begin June 14, 2027, two weeks later than previously set, according to a schedule approved by the judge Thursday.
As they have in the past, Maduro and Flores listened to the proceedings through headphones carrying the voice of a courtroom translator. At times, the bespectacled Maduro looked through papers in front of him.
When they entered the courtroom, Maduro waved to...
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