New York prosecutors are set to file fresh charges today against former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, over the alleged torture of Americans held in Venezuelan custody in recent years, infohub.kz reports.
According to NUR.KZ, citing the authoritative CNN television network and sources familiar with the matter, the new charges concern what the US government describes as the unlawful detention of more than a dozen American citizens in Venezuelan prisons during the period when Maduro led a repressive regime in the country.
Investigators have also discussed the possibility of charging several other individuals over their alleged role in the torture of Americans, a source familiar with the situation said.
CNN reached out to lawyers for Maduro and Flores for comment and has not yet received a response.
Some of the detained Americans have spoken publicly about the torture they endured while in custody. Matthew Heath and Osman Khan, who were released in a prisoner exchange in October 2022, said in a lawsuit that they were subjected to waterboarding, electric shocks, threats of sexual violence, exposure to psychotropic drugs and solitary confinement. Heath, a US Marine Corps veteran, attempted to take his own life while in custody.
A group of six American oil executives known as the "CITGO 6," who were held in Venezuela for nearly five years, also reported brutal conditions in Venezuelan detention facilities. In their lawsuits, they said they were tortured while in custody.
Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores, is also expected to appear in court today, where her lawyer will seek to have her placed under house arrest for the duration of the proceedings.
Recall that explosions rocked Caracas overnight on January 3. Trump subsequently said the United States had carried out large-scale strikes and that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro had been captured and taken out of the country along with his wife.
Venezuela's Supreme Court ruled that Vice President Delcy Rodríguez would serve as interim president. The trial of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in the United States will begin on June 1, 2027, a New York court said.
Maduro recently sent his family photographs from prison. And in September, Maduro and Cilia Flores asked a judge on Wednesday to drop drug trafficking charges against them.