Deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro asked a judge on Thursday to dismiss the criminal case against him in the United States for drug trafficking, accusing the US government of interfering in his defense by preventing the Venezuelan government from paying his legal fees.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty on January 5 to drug trafficking charges that could land them in prison in the US for decades. They are being held in New York awaiting trial.
Maduro’s defense attorney, Barry Pollack, previously told federal judge Alvin Hellerstein, who is overseeing the case, that the Treasury Department on Jan. 9 granted an exception to U.S. financial sanctions against Venezuela so the South American country’s government could pay Maduro’s fees, but revoked that permission hours later without explanation.
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In this Thursday’s motion, Pollack argued that the measure interfered with Maduro’s right to a lawyer, provided for in the Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution, and requires the dismissal of the charges. Pollack said he could not continue representing Maduro without funding from the Venezuelan government.
A spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which filed the charges, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
US special forces captured Maduro and his wife in a dramatic nighttime raid in Caracas on January 3, following months of pressure from US President Donald Trump’s administration for the socialist leader to resign. Prosecutors say Maduro abused his power to help drug traffickers throughout his 13 years in office.
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