US prosecutors have announced new charges against ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, accusing them of conspiring to torture political opponents and US citizens.
The new charges against the couple are in addition to the drug-trafficking charges they previously faced, according to a revised indictment released Thursday.
Both Maduro and Flores have denied the previous charges brought against them.
Revised indictment adds pressure on Maduro
The revised indictment alleged that the couple committed human rights violations as part of a scheme to hold on to power.
High tensions between the US and a socialist and oil-rich Venezuela were a constant during Maduro’s 13 years in power.
Human rights groups have long accused Venezuelan officials of torturing detainees, but Thursday’s indictment marks the first time that Maduro could be held to account over the allegations.
“He authorized the use of torture against specific individuals and oversaw a system designed to use torture, arbitrary detention and violence as a means of repression against the political opposition,” the indictment said.
The allegations include electric shocks, beatings and asphyxiation at Maduro’s behest.
Maduro’s wife seeks release from New York jail
Meanwhile, the 69-year-old Flores is due in Manhattan federal court on Thursday. She is expected to ask a judge to release her from jail and place her under house arrest, citing health problems.
Her lawyers say she has lost 25 pounds (11.4 kilograms) in custody, suffers from dizziness and shortness of breath and may have suffered a minor heart attack in July.
They have proposed that she live at a New York residence under 24-hour security.
Prosecutors, however, oppose the request, arguing that Flores poses an “extreme risk of flight and danger to the public” if released.
They said she has received hospital treatment when necessary while in custody.
Trump vs. Maduro
Maduro, 63, and Flores are being held at a federal detention center in Brooklyn as they await their trial in June next year.
The couple was captured during an unprecedented middle-of-the-night raid on their Caracas home on January 3, which was hailed by US President Donald Trump as a “surgical law enforcement operation.”
Critics have accused Trump of operating outside international law.
They were subsequently brought to New York, where they face existing drug trafficking and firearms charges.
Maduro has maintained his innocence, calling himself a prisoner of war and referring to his capture as a kidnapping.
Meanwhile, in August, Trump announced that the US had reached a deal to take control of part of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, which Venezuelan Interim President Delcy Rodriguez also termed “historic.”
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Edited by: Sean Sinico
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