SerpApi.Org
Ousted Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro’s narcoterrorism trial will start on June 1, 2027, a New York judge ruled Wednesday.
US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein set the trial date for the fallen leader, 63, and his wife, Cilia Flores, 69, at the couple’s third court appearance since US Special Forces captured them in a stunning late-night January raid at their heavily fortified Caracas compound.
Maduro and his wife are charged with working with drug cartels to ship thousands of tons of cocaine into the US for more than 20 years, between 1999 and 2025.
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Maduro, who appeared slimmed down while sporting a pair of glasses in jail garb at the court appearance Wednesday, is charged with narcoterrorism for allegedly working with “terror” groups, and both are separately charged with possessing machine guns.
However, the deposed despot plans to claim that his case should be tossed because of international law saying sitting heads of state cannot be prosecuted by a foreign government, a Justice Department source previously told The Post.
Washington has argued that Maduro was never the country’s legitimate leader, but officials fear his lawyers could counter by claiming the US tacitly recognized the Maduro regime by engaging with his vice president, Delcy Rodriguez.
Maduro’s motion to toss the case based on immunity grounds is due September 2, with the government’s response due a month later, the judge ruled Wednesday.
The toppled leader and his wife have been held without bail since their capture at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.
