Matthew Heath and Osman Khan, two American again imprisoned in Venezuela, have taken legal action against Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, accusing him of running a state-backed legal procedure.
In social conversations with the United States, Maduro’s state is accused of using American citizens as negotiations tools repeatedly in the complaint filed in a Miami federal court.
The 87-page issue, according to a statement from the Associate Press, alleges severe abuse of the plaintiffs while they are being held in custody. According to Heath and Khan, they endured waterboarding, electric shocks, threats of physical violence, and forced confinement in a cramped cell known as” El Tigrito”. These actions, according to their attorneys, were a part of a larger campaign to get the US to ratify slave exchanges, lift sanctions, and ban an oil sanctions.
Marsh, a former Marine, was detained in 2020 while travelling through Venezuela. Authorities accused him of extremism, alleging he was spying for then-President Donald Trump. His family claims Heath was stranded in the area as a result of the COVID-19 quarantine and was attempting to reach Aruba to get his ship.
Khan, a Florida college student, was detained in 2022 while crossing into Venezuela to attend his wife’s family. He was eventually charged with violence and human trafficking.
Both men were released in 2022 after being detained for 752 and 259 time, between, as part of a slave transfer.
Despite similar complaints by various Americans resulting in multimillion-dollar decisions, enforcing such honours remains hard according to Maduro’s use of performers to obscure property, writes the Associate Press.
Venezuela’s state has denied allegations of targeting Americans.
