Venezuela’s deposed socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on Thursday reiterated before a federal court in New York that they do not have the financial means to fund their defense in the ongoing drug trafficking case, outlets reported.
Maduro and Flores have remained detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after President Donald Trump authorized a law enforcement operation in Caracas to arrest the pair on January 3. They are facing drug trafficking charges are due back in federal court for a hearing on March 26.
The trial is being presided by District Judge Alvin Hellerstein.
According to a newswire from the Spanish news agency EFE, Maduro and Flores’ lawyers, Barry Pollack and Mark E. Donelly, submitted a new document on Thursday — days before the March 26 hearing — containing statements from Maduro and Flores in which they claim that they cannot afford their attorneys and express their willingness to submit financial evidence that can substantiate their assertions should the court so requires.
Maduro and Flores are subject to sanctions imposed by the the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). In February, Pollack, known for having represented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in the past, accused the Trump administration of “blocking” the Venezuelan state from paying Maduro’s legal fees — and requested that Judge Hellerstein throw out the case on grounds that the dictator’s sixth amendment rights are allegedly being “violated.”
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EFE reported that, in the new document submitted by the lawyers on Thursday, the dictator’s defence once again argued that the refusal to allow Venezuela to pay Maduro’s legal fees violates the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the right to counsel, and the Fifth Amendment, which guarantees due process.
“Forcing the defendants to accept a court-appointed attorney who is not of their choosing is, by definition, not a solution to the violation of their right to choose their own attorney,” the attorneys reportedly argued, asking Judge Hellerstein to dismiss the charges on the grounds that the proceeding is “unconstitutionally flawed” or to hold a hearing to discuss the case.
“The only remedy is dismissal, given that this court cannot allow the present case to proceed in violation of the constitutional rights of Mr. Maduro and Ms. Flores de Maduro,” the legal document reportedly read.
Pollack reportedly argued in February that, “Under Venezuelan law and custom, the government of Venezuela pays the expenses of the President and First Lady.” Earlier this month, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton filed a “statement of interest” clarifying that the United States has not recognized Nicolás Maduro as head of state since January 2019. Maduro illegitimately clung to power by holding a sham election in 2018.
The statement noted that the United States is recognizing Delcy Rodríguez as president as part of President Trump’s three-phase plan to restore democracy to Venezuela.
A report published by the Spanish newspaper ABC earlier this month indicted that Maduro spends his nights in prison yelling “I am the president” and claiming that he was “kidnapped.”
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