Ex-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and wife seek to end drug charges case on immunity grounds
Summary
Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan President, and his wife, Cilia Flores, asked a U.S. court to dismiss drug trafficking charges against them based on their claim of immunity as head of state and first lady. They are due to go on trial in June 2025, but their lawyers argue that U.S. courts cannot prosecute foreign leaders while they hold office.Key Facts
- Nicolás Maduro is the President of Venezuela and his wife is Cilia Flores, the first lady.
- Both face drug trafficking charges in a U.S. federal court in Manhattan.
- Their lawyers claim they have immunity from prosecution as a sitting head of state and first lady.
- Maduro and Flores were arrested in January in a raid in Caracas and brought to Brooklyn jail.
- They deny all charges and pleaded not guilty.
- The trial is set for June 1, 2025, with a preliminary hearing on dismissal motions scheduled for November 17, 2024.
- U.S. prosecutors accuse Maduro of helping drug traffickers send cocaine into the United States.
- The Trump administration called the raid a "surgical law enforcement operation."
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