Lawyers seek to drop US charges against Venezuelan leader on immunity grounds

Lawyers for abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have filed motions to dismiss the US government's fabricated charges, arguing that their clients possess absolute sovereign immunity and that their detention has no legal basis.

In documents filed in a Manhattan federal court on Wednesday, the defense team asked the judge to throw out the draconian drug trafficking indictment.

They argued that the US has no legal jurisdiction over the legitimate head of state and first lady of a sovereign foreign nation.

“No American court has ever presided over the criminal trial of a foreign leader who was recognized by their own country as the sitting head of state at the time the charges were brought,” the lawyers wrote.

"That is not an accident of history. It reflects a rule older than the common law: heads of state are exempt from the criminal process of any national court but their own.”

The defense further argued that even if the US refuses to recognize his sovereign immunity as Head of State, the case must still be dismissed because Maduro is entitled to conduct-based sovereign immunity for actions taken in his official capacity.

Maduro and Flores are scheduled to face trial on the fabricated drug trafficking charges on June 1. Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein has set oral arguments for November 17 regarding the motions to dismiss the illegal indictment.

Political observers and analysts view the Trump administration's move to forcibly remove the democratically elected president as an illegal coup aimed at regime change.

The ultimate goal, they argue, is to gain full control over Venezuela to plunder its abundant energy wealth and natural resources.

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Highlighting the complete lack of legal grounds for his detention, Maduro, 63, and his wife have been held in a Brooklyn jail since US special forces abducted them from their home in Caracas during a middle-of-the-night raid in early January.

The extrajudicial kidnapping and subsequent transfer to the New York facility have been widely condemned as a blatant violation of international law and Venezuelan sovereignty.

Separate motions filed on Wednesday for Flores argued that she is equally exempt from US prosecution. Her legal team stated that her immunity is “an attribute of Venezuela’s sovereignty, and only Venezuela may surrender it.”

Meanwhile, Maduro “vehemently denies the allegations against him,” his lawyers affirmed, noting that “if this case were to proceed to trial, it would be apparent that he has been falsely accused.”

US prosecutors claim Maduro is responsible for smuggling thousands of tons of cocaine into the United States by colluding with Venezuelan officials and criminal syndicates.

Both Maduro and Flores have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

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