Former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores now stand charged with conspiracy to commit torture after federal prosecutors filed a superseding indictment in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The new count targets alleged efforts to repress political opponents through violence, arbitrary detention, and the torture of detainees, including United States citizens, in order to hold power. Flores appeared Thursday for a bond hearing on her bid for release. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied the request.
Maduro and Flores already face earlier narcotics and weapons counts. Both pleaded not guilty. Their trial is set for June 2027. The fresh torture conspiracy charge raises the legal stakes for two high-profile defendants arrested in Venezuela and brought to Manhattan federal court.
Prosecutors say Maduro and Flores inflicted severe physical and mental pain and suffering to punish opposition, silence dissent, protect their authority, and neutralize opponents, including through kidnappings. Fox News reported the filing and the surrounding court proceedings.
The indictment states they "presided over a system of repression that relied on violence against political opposition, arbitrary detention, and the torture of detainees, including United States citizens."
"presided over a system of repression that relied on violence against political opposition, arbitrary detention, and the torture of detainees, including United States citizens."
It describes torture methods that included electric shock, asphyxiation, rape, forced nudity, prolonged isolation, starvation, punishment cells, and psychological torture such as threats to harm and kill victims' families, including children.
One alleged episode centers on a U.S. detainee labeled Victim-7. Officers allegedly beat him for days and doused him with a noxious liquid that made him vomit, then forced him to eat it. The detainee was accused of plotting to kill Maduro. He was subjected to electric shock to the torso and genitals and injected with a substance that induced seizures, according to the charging document.
The indictment further states: "On one occasion, CC-3 personally observed Victim-7 being electrocuted; laughed at and taunted Victim-7 during the electric shock; and directed other DGCIM officers in connection with the electric shock."
"On one occasion, CC-3 personally observed Victim-7 being electrocuted; laughed at and taunted Victim-7 during the electric shock; and directed other DGCIM officers in connection with the electric shock."
Victim-7 spent eight-and-a-half months at Boleíta Norte prison in Venezuela before release and return to the United States in October 2022. The torture conspiracy charge carries a maximum of life imprisonment if any alleged torture resulted in death, or a maximum of 20 years if it did not.
A 2011 indictment had already charged Maduro with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. President Donald Trump's Department of Justice unsealed that indictment in 2020.
Flores was charged in a January superseding indictment with cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. Prosecutors allege Maduro led a drug-trafficking organization for over two decades.
U.S. forces arrested Maduro and Flores in Venezuela in January during Operation Absolute Resolve. On Jan. 5, 2026, the pair landed at a Manhattan helipad, appeared in handcuffs, and were escorted to an armored car bound for the federal courthouse. Attorneys Barry Pollack and Mark Donnelly appeared with them at arraignment.
Both defendants filed motions to dismiss on diplomatic immunity grounds. Their lawyers are expected to argue that Maduro held head-of-state immunity and that the capture by U.S. Special Forces was unlawful. The Treasury Department authorized Venezuela to fund Maduro's legal defense.
Flores sought release to home confinement with GPS tracking. Her lawyers cited a heart condition and argued she does not pose a danger. She denies the allegations through counsel.
The U.S. government opposed release, calling her a flight risk and a danger to the public. Judge Hellerstein rejected the bond request Thursday, the same day prosecutors lodged the torture conspiracy count. Maduro and Flores remain in custody ahead of the June 2027 trial.
The case now combines long-running narcotics and weapons allegations with the new torture conspiracy charge tied to alleged repression inside Venezuela. Investigators and the court will need to test the evidence behind the Victim-7 account, the roles assigned to Maduro, Flores, and co-conspirators, and the defense claims of immunity and unlawful capture.
Authorities have not publicly released the full docket number or the precise statutes cited for the torture count in the materials describing the filing. No public results have been released that identify Victim-7 or CC-3 beyond the labels used in the indictment. Judges and prosecutors have not quoted extensive open-court remarks from the Thursday bond proceeding in the available account.
What remains clear is the charging decision itself. Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York added a conspiracy count that directly alleges torture of Americans and others as a tool to preserve power. The defendants have pleaded not guilty and will test those claims before a jury in 2027 unless the immunity motions or other rulings change the path.
When American citizens are allegedly tortured by a foreign regime's machinery of control, U.S. courts become the arena where power meets accountability. The indictment puts that principle on the record.
