Photo via The Guardian

Nicolás Maduro tells New York court new torture allegations are ‘false’

Read the original at The Guardian ↗
Cite

Associated Press. (2026, October 15). Nicolás Maduro tells New York court new torture allegations are ‘false’. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/15/nicolas-maduro-torture-allegations-cilia-flores

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

The Guardian · collected 2026-10-15 · by Associated Press
Content note This article describes violence described in detail and abuse of a child.

Quick Summary

During an appearance before a New York court on Thursday, Venezuela's deposed President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores denied new torture allegations against them. Shackled at the ankles, Maduro described the charges in the rewritten drug trafficking indictment as “false accusations.” The judge entered a not-guilty plea on behalf of both Maduro and Flores, who were captured by US military forces in a January raid. Prosecutors requested that the trial date be moved from June 1 to June 14.
Written by AI on 2026-10-15, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Nicolás Maduro, the former president of Venezuela, and his wife Cilia Flores appeared in a New York federal court on October 15 to face rewritten charges accusing them of leading a state-sponsored campaign that tortured scores of victims, including three Americans. Judge Alvin Hellerstein entered not-guilty pleas on their behalf after Maduro repeatedly denied the new accusations as "false" and was cut off by the judge. The couple was captured in a nighttime raid at their home in Caracas in January 2026. Prosecutors allege that Maduro oversaw a violent torture system, which included beating, asphyxiation, and electric shocks to victims. This case is rare, with only a few instances of foreign officials being prosecuted for such crimes in the US court system.

Written for “Maduro Faces Torture Charges In Court” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 5 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Maduro Faces Torture Charges In Court
Politics · 6 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 5% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
BBC News
Hedges 0 of 16 claims Outlet record 68/100
Toronto Star
⚖️ Leans right further right than this Hedges 0 of 3 claims Outlet record 64/100
The Straits Times
Hedges 1 of 24 claims Outlet record 66/100
CBS News
Hedges 0 of 2 claims Outlet record 66/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
19
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
5%
1 of 19 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
66/100
The Guardian's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
6
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-15 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Guardian · 2765 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Associated Press
601 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
🔮 The Mustangs totaled 421 yards on offense, well below their average of 470, and they just couldn’t punch it in when they needed to.
🔮 NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Saturday in a social media post that after talking to President Donald Trump, he has agreed to grant a visa to the mother of a 15-year-old immigrant from Ghana who was shot to death earlier this week.
🔮 New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Saturday in a social media post that after talking to President Donald Trump, he has agreed to grant a visa to the mother of a 15-year-old immigrant from Ghana who was shot to death earlier this week.
🔮 It added there would be no way to do that without violating voter privacy.
🔮 The ceasefire in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region began early on Tuesday and was expected to continue through Sunday evening.
🔮 The legal challenges to Donald Trump’s proposed memorial arch are mounting, with the District of Columbia and Virginia suing in federal court on Saturday as the administration says construction could begin as early as next week.
🔮 Melania Trump posted on social media Friday that the humanitarian convoy could safely evacuate more than 750 people.
🔮 The latest outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo virus, was declared in mid-May, catching authorities by surprise.
🔮 They are expected to win their elections on Nov. 3, and would join two democratic socialists already in the House.
🔮 The order issued late Friday also bars the justice department from demanding local election officials segregate or not count ballots that the federal government deems may have been cast by ineligible voters.
Wire or desk byline, not an individual reporter.
Also by Associated Press
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 601 articles by Associated Press →

Topics

Americans Caracas New York Venezuela Venezuelan

Subjects

Maduro PERSON · 10× Alvin K Hellerstein PERSON · 1× Americans NORP · 1× Barry Pollack PERSON · 1× Caracas GPE · 1× Cilia Flores PERSON · 1× Hellerstein PERSON · 1× New York GPE · 1× Nicolás Maduro PERSON · 1× Venezuelan NORP · 1×

Narrative

But the prosecution of foreign officials in the US is exceedingly rare, having been tried only a few times, including against the son of the former Liberian president Charles Taylor, Russians responsible for war crimes in Ukraine and a former prison warden in Bashar Assad’s Syria.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-15

Claims (19 extracted, 1 hedged)

Nicolás Maduro insisted on Thursday during an appearance in a New York court that torture allegations in a rewritten drug trafficking indictment against the deposed Venezuelan president and his wife were “false accusations”. asserted
allegations → insist → president
Maduro, shackled at the ankles, was brought to court to face the new charges accusing the couple of leading a state-sponsored campaign of repression that tortured scores of victims, including three Americans. asserted
that → shackle → Americans
Judge Alvin K Hellerstein entered a not-guilty plea on behalf of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. asserted
Hellerstein → enter → Maduro
They were seized from their Caracas home by the US military in a night-time raid in January. asserted
They → seize → January
Hellerstein announced that he was entering the plea on behalf of Maduro after Maduro twice responded to the judge’s request to enter a plea by criticizing the indictment, saying it contained “false accusations and false testimony”. asserted
it → announce → accusations
Maduro spoke through an interpreter. asserted
Maduro → speak → interpreter
Attorney Barry Pollack said when the charges were announced last week that Maduro, 63, denied them and “looks forward to his day in court”. asserted
Maduro → say → court
According to the rewritten indictment, Maduro oversaw a violent torture system that beat, asphyxiated and delivered electric shocks to its victims. uncertain
that → accord → victims
He is accused of personally recommending torture methods, receiving updates on specific victims’ treatment and threatening to kill one prisoner’s child as a form of psychological torture. asserted
He → accuse → torture
Flores, 70, a former attorney general, helped develop the repressive system and ordered the torture of some specific people, the indictment alleges. asserted
indictment → help → people
When she was asked to enter a plea, she said through an interpreter: “I am completely innocent. asserted
I → ask → interpreter
Maduro, who served as Venezuela’s president from 2013 until his capture in January, has been under investigation for years by the international criminal court over allegations of crimes against humanity, tied to his crackdown on opponents. asserted
who → serve → opponents
He has always denied wrongdoing. asserted
He → deny → wrongdoing
Prosecutors told the judge during the hearing that lawyers on both sides want the trial date moved from 1 June to 14 June. asserted
date → tell → June
Torture is a crime under international law and can be prosecuted outside the country where the abuse occurred and regardless of the victims’ nationality. asserted
abuse → prosecute → nationality
But the prosecution of foreign officials in the US is exceedingly rare, having been tried only a few times, including against the son of the former Liberian president Charles Taylor, Russians responsible for war crimes in Ukraine and a former prison warden in Bashar Assad’s Syria. asserted
prosecution → try → Syria
Earlier this year, Maduro and his wife pleaded not guilty in the US drug case, which said they conspired to flood the US with cocaine. asserted
they → plead → cocaine
Their attorneys say the case should be dismissed on immunity grounds because they were the leader and first lady of a foreign country. asserted
they → say → country
The revised indictment covers allegations of torture stretching back to Maduro’s ascent to power in 2013, when he took over as president from his mentor Hugo Chávez, who died of cancer that year. asserted
who → revise → cancer
💬Give feedback
🕘History 🎫Support