A Manhattan federal court unsealed new charges on Thursday against Nicolás Maduro, the deposed Venezuelan president, and his wife, Cilia Flores, accusing the couple of conspiring to commit torture. The updated indictment was made public just before Flores appeared in court seeking release while she awaits trial — a request that Judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected. Both have been held in a New York jail since early January, when US special forces seized them during a predawn raid on Caracas that drew condemnation from governments across Latin America and beyond. The new filing goes well beyond the original "narcoterrorism" case, describing a years-long campaign of repression allegedly run from the top of Venezuela's government.

Prosecutors say Maduro and Flores "sat atop that violent power structure," using arbitrary detention and torture to silence opponents, including American citizens. One US citizen, the indictment states, was denied food and water, subjected to simulated drowning, beaten repeatedly, given electric shocks and forced injections — details prosecutors say illustrate the brutality used to protect the couple's grip on power. Flores, according to the charges, was not a bystander but an architect of the system, allegedly ordering torture herself to shield family members from scrutiny over illegal dealings. The indictment also claims the couple pressured Venezuelan judges to issue rulings favorable to their interests, punishing those who refused to comply.

Maduro and Flores have both pleaded not guilty to the earlier charges, and no new plea has yet been entered on the torture allegations.