Maduro has until Wednesday to seek immunity in US court

Nicolás Maduro’s lawyers have until Wednesday to ask a New York federal court to recognize his immunity as Venezuela’s president and halt the criminal proceedings against him in the United States.

Judge Alvin Hellerstein set the deadline for the defense filing. The US government will have until Oct. 2 to respond, and the court plans to address the arguments at a Nov. 17 hearing, before a trial currently scheduled for June 2027.

Maduro’s defense is challenging both the jurisdiction of US courts and the legality of the military operation that captured him in Caracas on Jan. 3 and took him to the United States. During Maduro’s first court appearance on Jan. 5, his lawyer Barry Pollack argued that Maduro held immunity as the leader of a sovereign state and questioned the legality of his capture and transfer.

The case recalls the prosecution of Manuel Noriega, Panama’s former leader, who US troops captured in 1989 and who later faced drug-trafficking charges in the United States. A federal court rejected Noriega’s claim to immunity as head of state in 1990.

Maduro remained formally president of Venezuela when US forces captured him, although Washington stopped recognizing him as the country’s legitimate leader in 2019. He faces charges of conspiracy to commit narcoterrorism and cocaine importation. His wife, Cilia Flores, faces charges linked to drug importation and weapons possession.

On Sunday, Maduro shared photographs from New York’s Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. His son, Chavista lawmaker Nicolás Maduro Guerra, said the images were taken on June 25, one day after a devastating double earthquake in Venezuela that killed at least 6,509 people.

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He enjoyed immunity as the head of a sovereign state.