Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro insisted in court on Thursday that newly unsealed torture allegations against him and his wife were “false accusations.”
\n\nMaduro 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.
\n\nMaduro twice defied a judge’s request that he enter a plea to the charges. The former Venezuelan leader replied through a courtroom interpreter that the indictment were based on “false accusations and false testimony.”
\n\nIrked, 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.”
\n\nFlores was less combative. She said she read through a version of the new indictment written in Spanish, she told the judge through the Spanish interpreter.
\n\n“I am completely innocent,” she said. “I am not guilty.”
\n\nThey were seized from their Caracas home by the U.S. military in a nighttime raid in January.
\n\nTheir trial will begin June 14, 2027, two weeks later than previously set, according to a schedule approved by…
Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health