Federal law even provides for the death penalty if deaths due to torture are proven.
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A group of Venezuelan lawyers in exile formally requested the United States Department of Justice to initiate a criminal investigation against Nicolás Maduro for alleged acts of torture. The presentation points to the application of the Federal Statute against Torture, a rule that provides for sentences of up to life imprisonment and even the death penalty if it is proven that the victims died as a result of
abuse.
The petition was introduced on January 4, one day after Maduro was captured by U.S. forces and transferred to U.S. territory. According to the jurists behind the initiative, their presence in the United States enables the jurisdiction provided for in Title 18 of the United States Code, section 2340A, incorporated after the ratification of the Convention
against Torture. Maduro was captured on January 3 by American forces.
Attorney Kelvi Zambrano, one of the signatories along with José Valderrama, Villca Fernández and Julie Vanessa Siado, explained that the principle of jurisdiction is activated when the alleged perpetrator is in U.S. territory, regardless of the place where the acts were committed or the nationality of the
victims.
The possible process would not add to the file currently pending in the Federal Court of the Southern District of New York, where Maduro faces expanded charges for alleged narco-terrorism. This would be a completely independent investigation, whose opening depends exclusively on the decision of the competent federal prosecutor
.
The regulations invoked establish that anyone, outside the United States, commits or attempts to commit torture can face up to 20 years in prison. However, if the victim dies as a result of these acts, the penalty can escalate to life imprisonment or even capital punishment, as provided for in federal legislation
. Maduro was captured on January 3 by American forces.
As a background, the lawyers cite the case of Michael Sang Correa, a former member of a paramilitary unit in the Gambia, convicted in 2025 by a federal court in Colorado under the same statute for acts that occurred outside the United States. That ruling set a precedent in effectively applying federal jurisdiction for crimes of torture committed abroad
.
Now, the decision is in the hands of the Department of Justice. If he chooses to move forward, Maduro could face one of the most severe criminal proceedings contemplated by U.S. law, in parallel to the drug trafficking case already pending in New York
