Maduro’s Lawyers Ask US Court to Halt Trial and Dismiss Indictment
Lawyers for Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s former president, have asked a US court to halt his trial and dismiss the indictment against him. They argued that Maduro, as the head of an independent state, enjoys judicial immunity and that the US court has no jurisdiction to hear the case.
According to Sputnik, citing Mehr News Agency, Maduro’s legal team submitted the request in the form of a formal memorandum to the US court. The memorandum says the immunity being invoked covers Maduro personally as head of state, as well as actions he carried out in the course of his official duties.
Maduro’s lawyers have also called for the complete dismissal of the case against him. His defence lawyer said he would seek to have the drug trafficking charges against Maduro thrown out on the basis of the judicial immunity of the head of an independent state.
The case was pursued after, according to the text of the report, the United States carried out a military operation on Venezuelan territory, including in Caracas, on January 3, 2026, and arrested Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. A US judge had previously set June 1, 2027, as the start date for the trial of the pair.
Maduro and his wife had earlier appeared in a roughly 20-minute hearing at federal court in Manhattan. They are now being held at the Brooklyn Federal Detention Center and have denied all charges.
The United States has accused Maduro and his wife of drug trafficking, money laundering, corruption and crimes linked to transnational organisations. Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, is considered the main centre of the country’s political institutions in Latin America.
