Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro faces new U.S. torture charges after 9 months in a New York jail
Source: Fortune ·
The ousted leader already faces a potential life sentence on drug trafficking charges after U.S. forces captured him in January.
From the source
Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been charged by U.S. authorities with torture and other crimes in a new indictment unsealed Thursday that adds pressure on the ousted authoritarian leader already fighting drug trafficking offenses. Maduro, who was previously charged with participating in a conspiracy to send cocaine into the U.S., is now also facing allegations of human rights abuses during his reign as president of the oil-rich South American nation. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been behind bars in New York since early January when forces seized them from their Caracas home in a middle-of-the-night raid. Both have pleaded not guilty in the criminal case first brought years ago against them and numerous alleged co-conspirators. They had already been facing potential life prison sentences if convicted. Cilia Flores was scheduled to be in court Thursday, where her lawyers will urge a judge to free her from jail and put her under house arrest because she has…