By: Staff Writer
October 9, 2026
Former President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, was charged in a New York federal court on Thursday with new torture charges on top of his drug trafficking case in the U.S.
Maduro and wife Cilia Flores, already charged with participating in a conspiracy to send cocaine into the U.S., now also face allegations of human rights abuses during his time as president of the oil-rich South American nation.
Maduro, 63, and Flores, 69, have been in custody since January in a detention centre in Brooklyn, where they were taken after US forces seized them in a pre-dawn raid on their compound in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.
Barry J Pollack, Maduro’s attorney, said his client denies the new charges and looks forward to his day in court.
Federal prosecutors also announced on Thursday that Flores was added to the earlier narco-terrorism charge.
Maduro, who led Venezuela for 13 years, and Flores were captured by the US military from their home in Caracas on January 3 and brought to New York to face drug trafficking charges. They have pleaded not guilty and are scheduled to go on trial starting June 1, 2027.
Both have pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges and could face life imprisonment if convicted.
Maduro has also been under investigation by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity linked to his crackdown on political opponents. He has consistently denied wrongdoing.
The updated indictment “alleges conduct that is truly unthinkable,” New York-based U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said outside the courthouse where the case is being handled. He said thousands of Venezuelans, and some Americans, were tortured to ensure that Maduro and Flores held onto power.
“This is the epitome of corruption,” McDonald said.
The allegations include electric shocks, beatings and asphyxiation at Maduro’s behest. Maduro, the indictment claims, signed off on torture methods, sought and got updates on specific victims’ treatment, watched a video of a forced confession and personally threatened the killing of one prisoner’s child “as a form of psychological torture.”
Flores, a former legislator and attorney general, helped develop the repressive system and ordered the torture of some specific people, the indictment contends.