Nicolas Maduro is set to appear before a New York court on Wednesday for a pretrial hearing in the United States drug trafficking case against him. His legal team is expected to renew its challenge to the legality of the US military operation that snatched the Venezuelan president from power and brought him to the United States earlier this year to face drug trafficking charges.
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According to court records, Maduro, 63, and his wife, Cilia Flores, 69, have been held in a Brooklyn jail since US forces seized them from their Caracas residence in an overnight operation in early January and transferred them to New York.
Both Maduro and Flores have pleaded not guilty to the charges. If convicted, they face potential life imprisonment. US prosecutors have alleged that Maduro was part of a conspiracy to traffic cocaine into the United States.
The Trump administration has defended the operation, describing it as a "surgical law enforcement operation" linked to a criminal case first filed six years ago.
Maduro has strongly rejected both the charges and the manner of his arrest. He has described himself as "a prisoner of war" and said his capture amounted to "a kidnapping."
According to news agency AP, the US prosecutors said that Maduro "carried out a conspiracy to move thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. by colluding with Venezuelan law enforcement to help drug kingpins."
At his arraignment in January, Maduro denied the allegations, telling the court in Spanish: "I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the constitutional president of my country."
His lawyer, Barry Pollack, has said the defence will contest the legality of what he described as Maduro's "military abduction."
Pollack has also argued that the case raises complex legal questions that must be resolved before any trial can proceed. According to the defence, the legality of Maduro's transfer to US custody will form a central part of its arguments.
Court records show that neither Maduro nor Flores has sought bail. US district judge Alvin K. Hellerstein has not yet set a date for the trial.
Wednesday's hearing is expected to focus on preliminary legal issues, including the defence's challenge to Maduro's transfer to the United States.
