Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro has pleaded not guilty to newly unsealed torture charges lodged against him by US prosecutors in a New York court.

"These are false accusations against me," Maduro told the judge through a Spanish interpreter on Thursday.

Maduro, who has served as the democratically elected Venezuelan president since 2013 until his abduction by US military forces in a nighttime raid in January 2026, is currently being held in a New York prison.

He faces a rewritten indictment that expands initial drug-trafficking charges to include torture, filed by prosecutors on behalf of the US government.

Maduro, along with his wife, former Attorney General Cilia Flores—both of whom were brought to court shackled at the ankles—was recently accused of leading a state-sponsored repression and torture campaign against scores of victims, including three Americans.

Defying the judge's requests to enter a formal plea, the Venezuelan president told Manhattan Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein that the allegations were "false accusations and false testimony."

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Irked by the defiance, Judge Hellerstein took matters into his own hands, interjecting that "a plea of not guilty will be entered on behalf of Mr. Maduro."

Flores was less combative, telling the judge through an interpreter, "I am completely innocent. I am not guilty."

The newly expanded torture allegations follow earlier drug-trafficking charges, which accused the couple of conspiring to flood the US with cocaine.

According to the rewritten indictment, the US government alleges that Maduro oversaw a violent system that beat, asphyxiated, and delivered electric shocks to victims, even accusing him of personally recommending torture methods and threatening a prisoner's child.

Maduro has vehemently rejected both cases, viewing his abduction as a direct result of US President Donald Trump's imperialist desire to seize control of the Latin American country's massive oil and gas reserves.

Their attorneys insist that the cases lodged against Maduro and Flores must be dismissed on immunity grounds, as they were the sitting leader and first lady of a sovereign foreign nation.

Despite the defense's arguments, the judge approved a schedule setting the trial to begin on June 14, 2027.