Venezuela's Maduro asserts immunity, urges US judge to dismiss charges
The principle that sitting heads of state are immune from prosecution abroad is a longstanding tenet of international law seen as fundamental to diplomacy
Highlights:
- Maduro says head-of-state immunity bars US prosecution over drug trafficking charges
- Trial is set to start 1 June 2027, if dismissal effort fails
- Prosecutors must respond by 2 October, judge will hold hearing 17 November
Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro urged a US judge on Wednesday to dismiss criminal drug trafficking charges against him, arguing he should be immune from prosecution as the head of a sovereign country.
The charges, filed in Manhattan federal court, formed the basis for the US military's raid on Caracas and capture of Maduro on 3 January. The Venezuelan leader, who has been held in a Brooklyn federal jail since his seizure, has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go on trial on 1 June 2027, if his effort to dismiss the case is unsuccessful.
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The principle that sitting heads of state are immune from prosecution abroad is a longstanding tenet of international law seen as fundamental to diplomacy. Maduro's push to persuade Manhattan-based US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein to dismiss the case will test US courts' general reluctance to apply international law in criminal cases.
Maduro's lawyer, Barry Pollack, made the assertion of immunity in a motion to dismiss Maduro's indictment. Hellerstein had given Pollack a deadline of Wednesday to file the motion.
Pollack said Hellerstein lacked jurisdiction both because sovereign heads of state enjoyed complete immunity and because the acts that Maduro is accused of would have been part of his official duties.
"This unprecedented prosecution violates the absolute immunity from criminal jurisdiction to which heads of state and foreign officials acting in their official capacities have been entitled for hundreds of years," Pollack wrote.
Pollack wrote that Maduro was falsely accused and "vehemently denies" the allegations.
A spokesperson for the Manhattan US Attorney's office, which brought the charges, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Maduro faces uphill battle
Legal experts have told Reuters that Maduro faces an uphill battle. Washington has not recognised Maduro as Venezuela's president since 2019, and courts tend to defer to the US president and his cabinet in disputes over who is recognised as a foreign country's leader.
US criminal cases involving heads of foreign states are extremely rare, but precedent offers little encouragement for Maduro. In 1990, a federal judge in Miami rejected former Panamanian military leader Manuel Noriega's attempt to assert head-of-state immunity in part because he never officially held the title of president.
The United States stopped recognising Maduro in 2019, when he was inaugurated after a 2018 election the US said was rigged. The US also called his 2024 reelection fraudulent. Maduro says both votes were fair and has long accused Washington of seeking his ouster to gain control of the South American country's oil wealth.
Pollack wrote that Washington's assessment that Maduro lacked legitimacy was not relevant.
"Unlike in Noriega, the Executive Branch does not dispute that Mr. Maduro was Venezuela's head of state, but instead merely claims that, after 2019, he did not occupy that position legitimately," Pollack wrote.
Venezuela run by Maduro's vice president
Since Maduro's capture, his vice president and socialist ally Delcy Rodriguez has run Venezuela and increased cooperation with the Trump administration. Last month, the two countries reached an unprecedented deal that would see the US take over around one-fifth of Venezuela's oil reserves.
Pollack wrote that it was "incongruous" for the United States to recognise Rodriguez, who was appointed by Maduro, and not Maduro. He pointed to statements by Rodriguez and officials in her government in January and February indicating that they still considered Maduro Venezuela's legitimate head of state.
Rodriguez's government has since gone silent on the matter. Some murals of Maduro in Caracas have been painted over in recent months.
Prosecutors have until 2 October to respond to Maduro's motion to dismiss the indictment, and Hellerstein will hold a hearing on the dismissal effort on 17 November.
