Maduro, his wife return to court to dismiss indictment over funding legal costs

Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, return to a New York City court on Thursday in an attempt to dismiss the drug trafficking indictment against them over their inability to fund their legal costs.

Maduro’s attorney argues that the U.S. is violating the deposed leader’s constitutional rights by preventing Venezuelan government funds from being used to pay his legal costs, The Associated Press reported.

Maduro and Flores last appeared in court for their arraignment in January, during which he protested their capture by U.S. military forces and said, “I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the constitutional president of my country.”

Flores also pleaded not guilty.

Maduro and Flores remain jailed at a detention center in Brooklyn, and they have not asked to be released on bail. Judge Alvin Hellerstein has yet to set a trial date, but that could occur during the Thursday hearing.

Maduro's lawyer, Barry Pollack, said in a court filing last month that the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers sanctions, reversed a decision to let Venezuela pay for his legal fees.

The office approved the arrangement on Jan. 9, Pollack said, but then rescinded it without explanation less than three hours later.

Maduro argued in a written declaration filed with the court that he is “entitled to have the government of Venezuela pay for my legal defense.”

Federal prosecutors responded that the U.S. government had authorized Maduro and Flores to use personal funds to pay their legal fees, but they could do so from a fund controlled by a sanctioned government.

In his declaration, Maduro said that he is unable to afford his defense. He would have to show that he is too poor to pay for an attorney in order to qualify for a lawyer at U.S. taxpayer expense.

Maduro and Flores were seized Jan. 3 in a U.S. military raid on their Caracas home.

According to the indictment, Maduro and others are accused of working with drug cartels and members of the military to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S.

Maduro and Flores are accused of ordering kidnappings, beatings, and murders of those who owed them drug money or undermined their trafficking operation. If convicted, they face life imprisonment.

Meanwhile, Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, has replaced senior government officials, including Maduro’s defense minister and attorney general, reorganized agencies, appointed ambassadors, and eliminated tenets of the socialist movement that ruled Venezuela for more than 20 years.