Former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is immune from prosecution in American courts because he held the position of head of state when charges were brought against him, according to his lawyer. Barry Pollack, Maduro's attorney, filed a petition in federal court on Wednesday arguing for the dismissal of the charges.
"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," Pollack stated. He asserted that heads of state are universally "exempt from the criminal process of any national court" except within their own sovereign territory, a principle he described as "older than the common law."
Pollack further contended that even if immunity were not granted, the charges would be moot because the Justice Department alleges the conduct in question occurred while Maduro was serving as head of state. "This Court cannot defer to the Executive Branch’s apparent view that Mr. Maduro is not entitled to sovereign immunity -- either status or conduct-based," he argued. "Complete immunity for sovereign heads of state is a bedrock principal of customary international law and is firmly embedded within the common law."
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were taken from Venezuela in January and subsequently faced unsealed narcoterrorism charges. Federal prosecutors accuse them of conspiring with drug cartels to facilitate the trafficking of thousands of tons of cocaine into the United States. In a separate court filing, Flores also asserted her charges were moot due to her status as a former head of state.
A federal judge in New York has scheduled the couple's trial for June 1, 2027. Earlier this year, Maduro's legal team unsuccessfully sought to have the case dismissed after the Treasury Department blocked the Venezuelan government from funding their defense attorneys.