WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
  • Judge Alvin Hellerstein cut off Nicolás Maduro’s rambling courtroom speech and entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
  • Maduro rejected new charges alleging that he and Cilia Flores conspired to torture US citizens jailed in Venezuela.
  • Flores also pleaded not guilty, while the trial was delayed by two weeks to June 14, 2027.
  • Maduro and Flores were initially charged with narcoterrorism conspiracy after their Jan. 3 capture in Caracas.

Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro tried to turn his plea into a rambling courtroom speech Thursday, prompting a Manhattan federal judge to cut him off as he denied new charges accusing him and his wife of conspiring to torture US citizens jailed in Venezuela, as reported by The New York Post.

Maduro, 63, appeared before US District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein in a tan jail jumpsuit. The deposed strongman looked slimmer than he did around the time of his January arrest.

Speaking through a Spanish interpreter, Maduro attempted to deliver a broader rejection of the case rather than simply answer the judge’s question about his plea. Hellerstein had asked whether Maduro pleaded guilty or not guilty to the indictment.

“I reject this document in its entirety,” Maduro said in court. The former president sought to dismiss the allegations contained in the document before the judge stopped his remarks.

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Maduro also described the charges as “false allegations” during his courtroom statement. He called the indictment the “sum of concepts and allegations that were already presented.”

The extended response was not the simple answer Hellerstein had requested. The judge interrupted the ousted dictator’s diatribe and entered the plea himself on Maduro’s behalf.

“A plea of not guilty will be entered on behalf of Mr Maduro,” Hellerstein said. That declaration ended Maduro’s effort to continue speaking instead of directly answering the plea question.

Maduro appeared to be in high spirits when he entered the courtroom through a side door Thursday morning. He smiled and waved toward the spectator gallery despite the serious allegations confronting him.

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His wife, Cilia Flores, 69, also appeared in the case and pleaded not guilty Thursday. Both are accused in the original narcoterrorism conspiracy case as well as the new allegations added by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.

Maduro and Flores were initially charged with narcoterrorism conspiracy following their capture by the US military. The operation took place late at night on Jan. 3 at their presidential compound in Caracas.

The raid resulted in the arrest of the former Venezuelan president and his wife. Maduro has remained in custody since the January operation and appeared in court wearing jail clothing for Thursday’s proceeding.

Federal prosecutors expanded the case last week by adding charges alleging that Maduro and Flores conspired to torture US citizens imprisoned in Venezuela. Those new accusations brought the couple back before Hellerstein for their pleas.

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The allegations involve American citizens who were jailed in Venezuela. Prosecutors included a particularly graphic allegation involving a dissident who was subjected to an “electric shock to his testicles.”

Maduro rejected the entire charging document and characterized its contents as recycled allegations. Hellerstein, however, kept the proceeding focused on whether the former president was pleading guilty or not guilty.

Flores gave her own not guilty plea Thursday. The two defendants therefore both denied the accusations against them as the prosecution moved forward with its expanded case.

The newly added charges also affected the schedule. Hellerstein pushed the trial date back by two weeks, setting it for June 14, 2027, in light of the new allegations filed against Maduro and Flores.

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