Former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores have been charged by US authorities with conspiracy to commit torture in a new superseding indictment.

Maduro and Flores, who were previously charged with participating in a cocaine importation conspiracy, now face allegations of human rights abuses during his time as president. The pair have been behind bars in New York since early January, after US forces dramatically seized them from their Caracas home in a middle-of-the-night raid. Both have pleaded not guilty in the criminal case first brought years ago against them and numerous alleged co-conspirators.

Maduro, 63, and Flores, 69, had already been facing potential life prison sentences if convicted - their trial is scheduled for 1 June 2027. Their attorneys had asked for the case to be dismissed on the grounds that they have immunity as the leader and first lady of a foreign country. The new charges stem from accusations that they tortured political opponents to retain their grip on power in the oil-rich South American country. In one instance, prosecutors said Maduro in 2013 ordered the arrest of a Venezuelan military officer he suspected of planning a coup.

It is claimed that members of Venezuela's military counterintelligence directorate then interrogated the officer while shocking the individual with a live electric wire around 20 times and hung the individual by the hands and feet for several minutes at a time. The indictment alleges that the torture victims included three US citizens, who were not named in the court documents. One of those Americans was punched, subjected to electric shocks and forced to eat his own vomit during eight months of imprisonment, the indictment says. Another was beaten badly enough to necessitate a long hospital stay and had a gun stuck in his mouth.A third was handcuffed, hooded and beaten for two days every half an hour, suffering a permanent eye injury, the indictment said.

Lawyers for Maduro and Flores did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Maduro has been under investigation for years by the International Criminal Court over allegations of crimes against humanity, tied to his crackdown on opponents.

He has always denied any wrongdoing. Flores' request for house arrest deniedSeparately, Flores was in court on Thursday, where her lawyers urged a judge to free her from prison and put her under house arrest because of her heart problems. The request was denied. Lawyers for Flores have also argued that she has medical issues that cannot be treated effectively in jail, and that she could instead be allowed to live under 24-hour guard at a residence in New York. They claim she suffered permanent scarring from being "thrown against a wall or dresser" during the US military action that led to her capture and has lost 11kg while imprisoned at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

More from Sky News:Two arrested on suspicion of trespass offences at RAF baseRoyal Navy serviceman accused of plotting to leak intelligence appears in court They said she has "lingering light-headedness, dizziness and shortness of breath" and might have suffered a minor heart attack in July. However, prosecutors had opposed the request, claiming that she poses an "extreme risk of flight and danger to the public" if released and that she had received adequate medical care.

President Donald Trump's administration has defended the raid to capture Maduro as a "surgical law enforcement operation." However, Maduro has called himself a prisoner of war and his capture a kidnapping.