US prosecutors have accused Venezuela's former leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, of conspiracy to commit torture.

The new charges were made public on Thursday and are in addition to drug-trafficking and weapons charges the couple have denied.

Maduro, 63, and Flores, 69, have been held at a detention centre in Brooklyn since January, after US forces seized them in a pre-dawn raid on their compound in Caracas. They are expected to remain there after a judge on Thursday denied Flores's request to be moved to house arrest. Their trial is set to begin in June 2027.

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

The superseding indictment unsealed on Thursday accuses the 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".

According to the indictment, the torture included "electric shock, asphyxiation, rape, forced nudity, prolonged isolation, starvation, punishment cells, and psychological torture". Prosecutors allege the psychological torture included threats to kill victims' families, including children.

Prosecutors accuse Flores of playing a key role in developing the repressive system, ordering that individuals be tortured and receiving updates on the torture of specific prisoners. The court document alleges she did so to protect family members involved in illegal activities.

The allegations echo accusations long made by released prisoners and human rights groups in Venezuela, which have denounced what they describe as "systematic torture" in the country's jails.

Javier Tarazona, head of a Venezuelan human rights group, told BBC Mundo earlier this year that he and his brother were held in a tiny punishment cell for 46 days after being arbitrarily arrested. Former inmate Ángel Godoy told BBC Mundo he was kept isolated for months and not allowed to contact his wife, who was left unaware of his whereabouts.

After Maduro's ousting, Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as interim leader with the backing of the Trump administration. Hundreds of political prisoners have been released under an amnesty law since she took over, but more than 300 remain behind bars, according to the prisoners' rights group Foro Penal.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has warned that his office has received reports that detainees continue to be tortured even after Maduro's seizure. In March, he said "structural and systemic human rights concerns" had persisted despite the ousting. Venezuela's foreign minister at the time accused Türk of parroting the agenda of "extremists". (BBC News)