Trump's DOJ charges jailed Maduro and wife with torture conspiracy over electric shocks, rape and starvation of Americans
From the Newshound archive · first published 8 October 2026 · last updated 9 October 2026.
Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, already held in New York, now face an additional conspiracy-to-torture count after a superseding indictment was unsealed in Manhattan federal court on Thursday. The 30-page document alleges the pair operated a repression apparatus running from at least 1999 through 2025, targeting political opponents and US citizens seen as threats to their grip on power. Maduro's lawyers are contesting the case on sovereign immunity grounds, and the presiding judge has yet to rule on their dismissal motion.
The indictment describes torture methods including electric shock, asphyxiation, rape, forced nudity, starvation and threats to kill prisoners' children.
Where torture resulted in death, the new charge carries a maximum of life imprisonment; in other cases the ceiling is 20 years.
Maduro and Flores already face narco-terrorism and cocaine smuggling charges and are due to stand trial in June.