Venezuela’s ex-leader Nicolás Maduro charged with conspiracy to commit torture

The superseding indictment unsealed on Thursday accuses the former presidential couple of "entrenching themselves in power" by presiding "over a system of repression that relied on violence against political opposition, arbitrary detention, and the torture of detainees, including United States citizens".

Human rights groups in Venezuela and former prisoners have long denounced what they have described as "systematic torture" in Venezuelan jails.

The new accusations relate to the alleged torture of US citizens who were being held in Venezuela while Maduro was in power.