New US indictment accuses former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of torture

NEW YORK — Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been charged by U.S. authorities with torture and other crimes in a new indictment unsealed Thursday that adds pressure on the ousted authoritarian leader already battling drug trafficking crimes.

Maduro, who was previously accused of participating in a plot to send cocaine to the United States, now also faces allegations of human rights abuses during his tenure as president of the oil-rich South American country.

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been behind bars in New York since early January when law enforcement arrested them at their Caracas home in a late-night raid.

Both have pleaded not guilty in the criminal case first brought years ago against them and numerous alleged co-conspirators. They already faced a possible life sentence if convicted.

Cilia Flores was scheduled to appear in court Thursday, where her lawyers will urge a judge to release her from jail and place her under house arrest because of heart problems.

Their lawyers requested that the case be dismissed on the grounds that they have immunity as the leader and first lady of a foreign country.

Lawyers for Flores, 69, also argued that she has health problems that cannot be effectively treated in prison and that she could instead be allowed to live under 24-hour supervision at a residence in New York.

They also said she suffered permanent scarring when she was “thrown against a wall or dresser” during the U.S. military action that led to her capture.

Her lawyers say she lost 25 pounds during her imprisonment at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn and was told she might need heart surgery. They said she suffered “persistent dizziness, lightheadedness and shortness of breath” and may have suffered a minor heart attack in July.

Prosecutors opposed the request for bail. In a court filing, they wrote that Flores would pose an “extreme flight risk and danger to the public” if released. They also said she was taken out of jail for treatment at a local hospital when care was needed.

President Donald Trump’s administration defended the raid to capture Maduro as a “law enforcement surgery.” Maduro has called himself a prisoner of war and his capture is kidnapping.

Flores is accused of participating in a cocaine importation conspiracy with her husband, Maduro, who served as Venezuela’s president from 2013 until his capture by U.S. forces in January.

Flores’ lawyers said she poses no flight threat because she “intends to support her husband with her constant presence.”