Venezuela’s deposed socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, both pleaded not guilty in court Thursday to charges of conspiracy to commit torture.
\n\nLast week, new charges were brought against the pair, accusing them of heading a state-sponsored system of repression that led to the torture of numerous victims, including several American citizens.
\n\nMaduro and Flores remain detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn since January after U.S. forces arrested them through a law enforcement operation in Caracas, Venezuela. Both are also trial on separate drug trafficking charges set to begin in June 2027.
\n\nPer the new charges, the socialist dictator and his wife stand accused of having created a “violent system of repression” against political opponents and dissidents that led to the unjust imprisonment and torture of numerous individuals, subjecting them to “electric shock, asphyxiation, rape, forced nudity, prolonged isolation, starvation, punishment cells, and psychological torture, such as threats to harm and kill victims’ families.”
\n\nThe alleged acts of torture stretch all the way back to 2013, the year Maduro assumed leadership of the nation’s socialist regime.
\n\nSeveral outlets observed that Maduro “started rambling” when asked to enter a plea to the charges on Thursday.
Original source: https://www.breitbart.com/latin-america/
