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US invokes rarely used torture law in revamped case against Maduro · GNN Daily Breaking News

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  Speaker 1: United States federal prosecutors in Manhattan have expanded their criminal
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  Speaker 1: prosecution against ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife,
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  Speaker 1: Celia Flores, filing a superseding indictment that invokes a rarely
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  Speaker 1: used federal statute prohibiting conspiracy to commit torture. Arraigned in
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  Speaker 1: the United States District Court for the Southern District of
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  Speaker 1: New York, Maduro and Flores pleaded not guilty to the
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  Speaker 1: revised charges. The new filing significantly broadens the legal scope
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  Speaker 1: of the federal case beyond initial narcoterrorism and drug trafficking allegations,
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  Speaker 1: directly charging the former chief executive with directing state security
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  Speaker 1: apparatuses to systematically torture political opponents, military defectors, and detained
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  Speaker 1: American citizens. The legal mechanism deployed by the Department of
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  Speaker 1: Justice relies on Title 18, Section 2340A of the United
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  Speaker 1: States Code, a rarely invoked extraterritorial torture law that grants
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  Speaker 1: federal courts legal jurisdiction over foreign nationals present within the
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  Speaker 1: United States, regardless of where the severe abuse occurred. According
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  Speaker 1: to court documents, prosecutors allege that Maduro personally commanded military
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  Speaker 1: intelligence officers and counterintelligence units to inflict severe physical and
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  Speaker 1: psychological trauma on suspected dissidents to extract confessions and maintain
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  Speaker 1: political power. The indictment explicitly details alleged acts of violence
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  Speaker 1: overseen by military security agencies, including electrocution, mock executions, physical assaults,
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  Speaker 1: and prolonged isolation carried out against Venezuelan military personnel and
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  Speaker 1: at least three American citizens held in state custody. The
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  Speaker 1: unsealing of torture charges represents an extraordinary expansion of federal
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  Speaker 1: extraterritorial prosecution. marking one of the highest-profile applications of human
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  Speaker 1: rights legislation against a former foreign head of state in
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  Speaker 1: American judicial history. Legal analysts note that utilizing extraterritorial torture
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  Speaker 1: statutes enables federal prosecutors to present extensive testimonial evidence from
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  Speaker 1: former Venezuelan officials, military defectors, and released American detainees directly
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  Speaker 1: to a federal jury. Defense counsel for Maduro strongly contested
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  Speaker 1: the updated indictment during court proceedings, dismissing the allegations as
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  Speaker 1: politically motivated fabrications while asserting that their client maintains immunity
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  Speaker 1: claims regarding his past executive role. As pretrial hearings proceed
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  Speaker 1: before United States District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, federal prosecutors are
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  Speaker 1: preparing evidentiary disclosures while defense attorneys signal intentions to challenge
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  Speaker 1: the extraterritorial application of federal criminal statutes. Human rights advocacy
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  Speaker 1: groups and Venezuelan exile organizations have welcomed the additional charges,
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  Speaker 1: framing the federal prosecution as a crucial step toward establishing
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  Speaker 1: formal legal accountability for state-sponsored abuses. The upcoming proceedings are
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  Speaker 1: set to establish major legal precedents regarding the reach of
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  Speaker 1: American human rights statutes and the prosecution of former foreign
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  Speaker 1: heads of state in domestic courts.