‘False accusations’: Maduro, wife rejects fresh torture allegations in New York court

Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, stand with Maduro's lawyer Anna Estevao and Flores' lawyer, Mark Donnelly, at a hearing before US Former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro on Thursday dismissed new torture allegations against him and his wife, Cilia Flores, as “false accusations” during a court appearance in New York, where a judge entered not-guilty pleas on their behalf in a revised indictment accusing them of overseeing a state-sponsored campaign of repression.Maduro, who was brought to court in ankle shackles, criticised the indictment when judge Alvin K. Hellerstein asked him to enter a plea. He twice challenged the charges, saying they contained “false accusations and false testimony”. He spoke through an interpreter.Hellerstein entered a not-guilty plea on behalf of Maduro and Flores, who also denied the allegations. “I am completely innocent. I am not guilty,” she said through an interpreter when asked to enter her plea.The revised indictment accuses the couple of leading a system of repression in Venezuela that allegedly tortured scores of victims, including three Americans. Prosecutors claim the abuses included beatings, asphyxiatio...