Nicolás Maduro’s wife to appear in court to push for release from New York jail

Deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted for alleged conspiracy to commit torture, according to Manhattan federal court papers unsealed Thursday.

CNN first reported the expected indictment on Wednesday.

The superseding indictment was unsealed shortly before Flores appeared at court in her ongoing push for pre-trial release. Maduro and Flores have been held in a New York City jail since early January. They were captured in a US military operation and transported to New York to face “narcoterrorism” charges in a move that sparked widespread international outrage.

In the new charging document, the US attorneys office for the southern district of New York described how Maduro and his wife allegedly used horrific tactics to suppress opposition and maintain their control.

They presided “over a system of repression that relied on violence against political opposition, arbitrary detention, and the torture of detainees, including United States citizens”, the charging document said.

“That torture included electric shock, asphyxiation, rape, forced nudity, prolonged isolation, starvation, punishment cells, and psychological torture, such as threats to harm and kill victims’ families, including children,” it added.

Maduro and Flores, the new indictment alleged, “sat atop that violent power structure”.

Flores was integral to this effort, authorities claimed, saying she “helped develop this system of repression and ordered that individuals be tortured to protect her family members’ illegal activities”.

The victims of their torture included “US citizens “who were believed to pose a threat” to Maduro’s power.

“One particular United States citizen was detained in Venezuela and subjected to, among other things, deprivation of food and water, simulated drowning, repeated beatings, electric shock to his testicles, and forced injections.”

Maduro and Flores,

Both have pleaded not guilty in a criminal case first brought six years ago against them and numerous alleged co-conspirators. They face potential life prison sentences if convicted of being part of a conspiracy to send cocaine into the US.

Their attorneys have asked for the case to be dismissed on the grounds that they have immunity as the leader and first lady of a foreign country.

Lawyers for Flores, 69, have also argued that she has medical issues that cannot be treated effectively in jail, and that she could instead be allowed to live under 24-hour guard at a residence in New York.

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

Her lawyers said she had lost 25lbs (11kgs) while imprisoned at the Metropolitan detention center in Brooklyn and had been told that she might need heart surgery. They said she also suffered from “lingering lightheadedness, dizziness and shortness of breath” and might have suffered a minor heart attack in July.

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

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

Flores is charged with participating in a cocaine importation conspiracy with Maduro, who served as Venezuela’s president from 2013 until his capture by US forces in January.

Lawyers for Flores said she was no threat to flee because she is “intent on supporting her husband with her constant presence”.

The Associated Press contributed to this report