Maduro, wife due for arraignment on torture charges

Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are due in Manhattan federal court to answer new charges accusing them of conspiring to torture political opponents and other perceived threats in Venezuela. Prosecutors allege the pair helped oversee a government-backed system of beatings, electric shocks, suffocation and psychological abuse; the indictment also says three U.S. citizens were among the alleged victims. Maduro is accused of approving methods and receiving reports about detainees, while Flores allegedly helped develop the system and directed abuse against specific people. The charges expand an existing U.S. drug-trafficking case, in which both have pleaded not guilty; Maduro denies the new allegations, and their lawyers have argued that the defendants are entitled to immunity.