US indicts Nicolas Maduro and wife Cilia Flores on torture charges US prosecutors unsealed a new indictment Thursday accusing former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores of running a state-sponsored torture system that abused opponents and Americans. Flores' bid for house arrest was rejected as the couple remains jailed in New York on drug charges. US prosecutors unveiled sweeping new criminal charges Thursday against former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, accusing them of heading a state-sponsored system of repression responsible for the beating, asphyxiation and electric shock treatment of scores of victims, including several Americans. The updated indictment unsealed in Manhattan adds torture charges to the drug trafficking case the couple already faces and increases pressure on the ousted authoritarian leader, who was seized from his Caracas home by US military forces in January. US Attorney Jamie McDonald said outside the courthouse that the indictment alleges conduct that is truly unthinkable. He called it the epitome of corruption.Torture Allegations Stretching Back to 2013The new charges cover torture allegations stretching back to Maduro's ascent to power in 2013, when he took over from his mentor Hugo Chavez, who died of cancer that year. Maduro, the indictment claims, suggested torture methods and sought and received updates on specific victims' treatment. It says he watched a video of a forced confession and personally threatened the killing of one prisoner's child as a form of psychological torture.Prosecutors also allege that on occasion he laughed after hearing about the abuse of prisoners. Flores, a former attorney general, helped develop the repressive system and ordered the torture of some specific people, the indictment contends. A message seeking comment was sent to Maduro's lawyer, and Flores' attorney said he had not yet had time to review the new allegations. Both have pleaded not guilty in the drug case first brought years ago against them and numerous alleged co-conspirators.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. Maduro and Flores have been behind bars in New York since early January. Their lawyers also argue that Flores, 69, has heart problems that cannot be treated effectively in jail.She was scheduled to be in court Thursday, where her lawyers urged a judge to free her from jail and put her under house arrest. Flores' lawyers said she lost 25 pounds, or 11 kilograms, while imprisoned at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn and has been told she might need heart surgery. They said she has lingering lightheadedness, dizziness and shortness of breath and might have suffered a minor heart attack in July.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. They said she was no threat to flee because she is intent on supporting her husband with her constant presence. 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 has been taken from the jail to get treatment at a local hospital when care was needed. Flores' lawyers unsuccessfully asked a judge Thursday to release her on house arrest due to medical concerns. The judge rejected the request, keeping her jailed as the case proceeds.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. He has always denied any wrongdoing. He has called himself a prisoner of war and his capture a kidnapping. President Donald Trump's administration has defended the raid to capture Maduro as a surgical law enforcement operation.Prosecutors allege that fearing a barracks revolt, Maduro authorized Venezuela's feared DGCIM military intelligence agency to use torture against military insiders and opponents he saw as threatening his grip on power. The indictment does not name the alleged victims, but the descriptions of deaths and imprisonment match those of several high-profile Maduro opponents.Named Victims and American Victims of TortureThey include Leopoldo Lopez, who spent more than three years in prison for leading anti-government protests, and former Chavez defence minister Raul Baduel, who died in custody in 2021. Also described is the death of Fernando Alban, an opposition politician who died in a fall from the 10th floor of an intelligence agency building that a US court later determined was a murder for hire. Three American victims of torture were also described in the indictment.One, who matches the description of Osman Khan, was detained entering Venezuela in early 2022 and subjected to electric shocks and forced to eat his own vomit during eight months of imprisonment, the indictment says. Another was beaten badly enough to necessitate a long hospital stay and had a gun stuck in his mouth. A third was handcuffed, hooded and beaten for two days every half an hour, suffering a permanent eye injury, the indictment said.Khan was released in October 2022 along with former US marine corporal Matthew Heath and six American oil executives. The release came in exchange for two nephews of Flores jailed in the US on narcotics convictions. Khan and Heath later sued in US courts under a federal anti-terrorism law and in May won a 300 million dollar default judgment against Maduro and other top Venezuelan officials for overseeing a pattern of torture.Heath said Thursday upon learning of the new charges that it is incredible to see a dictator in court. He said the Maduro prosecution will do more to prevent the kidnapping of Americans by rogue regimes than a hundred press releases from the United Nations.International Law and Selective ProsecutionTorture is considered a grave crime under international law and can be prosecuted by any competent court regardless of the victims' nationality, said Kenneth Roth, a senior fellow at Yale University who for decades headed Human Rights Watch. Still, prosecution of foreign officials in the US is exceedingly rare, having been attempted only a handful of times.Those cases include the son of Liberian President Charles Taylor, Russians responsible for war crimes in Ukraine and a former prison warden in Bashar Assad's Syria. Roth said the problem here is not a lack of jurisdiction but rather selectivity of prosecution. He said it is unlikely that Maduro tortured anyone on his own and that former Maduro officials whom the Trump administration has now co-opted as its new allies are likely as complicit in torture as he is.An ex Venezuelan spy chief is a key cooperator in the case, according to prosecutors. Venezuela's government has so far been silent about the new accusations against Maduro, reflecting the challenges facing acting President Delcy Rodriguez. She is striving to appease the security forces without alienating US President Donald Trump. The couple had already been facing potential life prison sentences if convicted on the drug charges, and the new torture counts add to their legal exposure.Philip Marcelo and Larry Neumeister of The Associated Press contributed to this report.