Former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are making an appearance on Thursday, March 26, in federal court in New York City. Both have been held in Brooklyn since their capture by the U.S. during Operation Absolute Resolve.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who is overseeing former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s federal court appearance Thursday in New York City, said in court that “I’m not going to dismiss the case.
” The remark came during a discussion over the right to counsel. Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores have pleaded not guilty to federal drug trafficking and weapons charges. In a recent letter to Hellerstein, Maduro’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, said the U.S. was preventing the Venezuelan government from covering his client's legal fees. Pollack said that Maduro and the Venezuelan government were subjected to sanctions by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control , and his legal counsel would need to be granted a license to represent him and be paid. While Pollack said OFAC granted licenses for both Maduro and Flores on Jan. 9, Maduro's license was amended 'without explanation' to not allow the Venezuelan government to pay for his defense costs. Pollack said that OFAC is 'interfering with Mr. Maduro’s ability to retain counsel' and violating his Sixth Amendment right to counsel of his choice. In court on Thursday, Maduro’s attorneys argued that he has the right to counsel of his choice and that, in this case, the U.S. government has not meaningfully shown why Venezuela should not cover the legal fees for him and his wife, Cilia Flores. As part of its arguments, the U.S. government said the sanctions were imposed because Maduro and his wife were plundering Venezuela’s wealth, and it does not want to give them access to those resources. The U.S. government added that although the funds would support the defense, they are being blocked based on policy and national security concerns. The judge then indicated he feared they may be interfering with the ability for Maduro and Flores to defend themselves. At that point, the defense said that the only remedy is to dismiss the case, to which the judge immediately responded, 'I'm not going to dismiss the case.' Fox News' Brendan McDonald and Michael Sinkewicz contributed to this report.
Breaking News Latest News Current News World News National News
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Nicolás Maduro heads back to a US court, fighting charges as Venezuela moves on without himFormer Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is due in court as he seeks to have his drug trafficking indictment thrown out over a geopolitical dispute over legal fees.
Read more »
Nicolas Maduro heads back to court arguing that the US is trying to hamstring his defenseNicolas Maduro, the former president of Venezuela, will to try to convince a federal judge on Thursday that the US government is interfering with his ability to defend against narco-terrorism related charges and the case should be dismissed.
Read more »
Nicolás Maduro due back in US courtFormer Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is due in court as he seeks to have his drug trafficking indictment thrown out over a geopolitical dispute over legal fees. Maduro’s lawyer contends that the U.S. is violating the deposed leader’s constitutional rights by blocking Venezuelan government funds from being used to pay his legal costs.
Read more »
Nicolás Maduro heads back to a US court, fighting charges as Venezuela moves on without himFormer Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is due in court as he seeks to have his drug trafficking indictment thrown out over a geopolitical dispute over legal fees.
Read more »
Nicolás Maduro heads back to a U.S. court, fighting charges as Venezuela moves on without himFormer Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is due in court as he seeks to have his drug trafficking indictment thrown out over a geopolitical dispute over…
Read more »
Ousted Venezuelan dictator and his wife head back to court for first time since arrestNicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, returned to court as lawyers argued that U.S. restrictions blocked funds for his criminal defense.
Read more »