Family members of five people killed in Venezuela have filed a federal lawsuit against former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, accusing him of authorizing the killings, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

The lawsuit was filed in federal district court in Brooklyn, New York, against Maduro, who is in U.S. custody awaiting trial on drug trafficking charges after being captured in January in Caracas by U.S. forces.

The lawsuit was filed by the Guernica 37 Centre, an international nonprofit legal organization that seeks accountability for serious human rights violations through transnational legal actions, the Times reported. The group is representing family members of five young men killed by Venezuelan security forces in police raids between 2017 and 2020.

The plaintiffs are suing under the Torture Victim Protection Act, a 1991 law that allows civil actions to be filed in U.S. federal court against people accused of committing torture or extrajudicial killings while acting in an official capacity in another country.

To protect the families from retaliation, the lawsuit was filed using aliases. Although many victims’ relatives have gone public in their campaign for justice, the plaintiffs’ attorneys fear for their safety not only because they are taking aim at low-level officers but also at someone who was the leading member of the Venezuelan government, according to the Times.

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