Venezuela’s Maduro asserts immunity in US court, urges dismissal of charges

Former Venezuelan leader was abducted by US forces during a military attack on Caracas in January.

Former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is escorted through New York City on January 5, after his abduction [Adam Gray/Reuters]

Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has urged a United States judge to dismiss the criminal drug trafficking charges against him, arguing he should be immune from prosecution as the head of a sovereign country.

Maduro’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, made the appeal in a Manhattan district court on Wednesday.

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His legal team has petitioned District Judge Alvin Hellerstein to dismiss the case, which will test the willingness of US courts to apply international law to criminal cases.

Maduro was abducted and imprisoned on January 3, after US President Donald Trump authorised a military raid in Caracas. The former Venezuelan leader , who has been held in a Brooklyn federal jail, has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go on trial on June 1, 2027, if his effort to dismiss the case is unsuccessful.

The principle that sitting heads of state are immune from prosecution abroad is a longstanding tenet of international law, seen as fundamental to diplomacy.

Judge Hellerstein had given Pollack a Wednesday deadline to file his motion to dismiss the case.

Pollack has argued that Hellerstein lacks jurisdiction, both because sovereign heads of state enjoy 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 added 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 the Reuters news agency that Maduro faces an uphill battle.

Washington has not recognised Maduro as Venezuela’s president for years, due to disputed elections. 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 US stopped recognising Maduro in 2019, when he was inaugurated for a second time after a 2018 election that critics say was rigged. Washington also called his 2024 re-election fraudulent.

Maduro says both votes were fair and has long accused the US of seeking his ouster to gain control of the South American country’s oil wealth .

Pollack, however, 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 abduction, his former vice president and socialist ally, Delcy Rodriguez , has run Venezuela as its interim leader.

She has also increased cooperation with the Trump administration. Last month, the two countries reached an unprecedented deal that would see the US take over about one-fifth of Venezuela’s oil reserves.

Pollack wrote that it was “incongruous” for the US to recognise Rodriguez, who was appointed by Maduro, and not Maduro himself. He pointed to statements by Rodriguez and officials in her government, made 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 October 2 to respond to Maduro’s motion to dismiss the indictment, and Hellerstein will hold a hearing on the dismissal effort on November 17.

今年1月，美军在对加拉加斯的军事进攻中绑架了委内瑞拉前领导人。

1月5日，委内瑞拉前总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗在被绑架后，在纽约市被押送。[亚当·格雷/路透社]

被罢黜的委内瑞拉总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗敦促美国法官驳回对他的刑事毒品走私指控，理由是作为主权国家的领导人，他应该享有刑事豁免权。

马杜罗的律师巴里·波拉克周三在曼哈顿地区法院提出上诉。

委内瑞拉总统马杜罗公布其在美国拘留期间的首批照片（共3条，此为第1条）

美国法官将委内瑞拉总统马杜罗的审判日期定于2027年（共3份名单中的第2份）。

美国能源部长将前往委内瑞拉公布石油协议（共3项，此为第3项）

他的法律团队已向地区法官阿尔文·海勒斯坦提出申请，要求驳回此案。此案将考验美国法院是否愿意将国际法应用于刑事案件。

马杜罗于1月3日被绑架并监禁，此前美国总统唐纳德·特朗普授权对加拉加斯进行军事突袭。这位委内瑞拉前领导人一直被关押在布鲁克林联邦监狱，他已否认所有指控，如果他撤销指控的努力失败，将于2027年6月1日出庭受审。

国家元首在国外享有豁免权的原则是国际法的一项长期原则，被视为外交的根本原则。

法官赫勒斯坦给波拉克设定了周三的最后期限，要求他提交驳回此案的动议。

波拉克认为赫勒斯坦缺乏管辖权，原因有二：一是国家元首享有完全豁免权；二是马杜罗被指控的行为属于其官方职责的一部分。

波拉克写道：“这种史无前例的起诉违反了国家元首和外国官员在履行公务时享有的绝对刑事管辖豁免权，而这种豁免权已经存在了数百年。”

波拉克补充说，马杜罗遭到了诬告，并“强烈否认”这些指控。

提起诉讼的曼哈顿美国检察官办公室发言人尚未对此事作出回应。

马杜罗面临一场艰苦的战斗

法律专家告诉路透社，马杜罗面临着一场艰苦的战斗。

由于选举争议，华盛顿多年来一直不承认马杜罗为委内瑞拉总统。在涉及外国领导人身份认定的争议中，法院通常会尊重美国总统及其内阁的决定。

涉及外国元首的美国刑事案件极其罕见，但先例对马杜罗来说并不乐观。1990年，迈阿密的一名联邦法官驳回了巴拿马前军事领导人曼努埃尔·诺列加主张享有国家元首豁免权的请求，部分原因是诺列加从未正式担任过总统。

美国于2019年停止承认马杜罗，当时他在2018年被批评人士称为舞弊的选举后第二次就职。华盛顿方面还称他2024年的连任选举存在舞弊。

马杜罗表示两次投票都是公平的，并长期以来指责美国试图推翻他以控制这个南美国家的石油财富。

然而，波拉克写道，华盛顿方面对马杜罗缺乏合法性的评估并不相关。

波拉克写道：“与诺列加的情况不同，行政部门并不否认马杜罗先生是委内瑞拉的国家元首，而只是声称，在 2019 年之后，他不再合法担任这一职位。”

委内瑞拉由马杜罗的副总统统治

自马杜罗被绑架以来，他的前副总统兼社会主义盟友德尔西·罗德里格斯一直担任委内瑞拉的临时领导人。

她还加强了与特朗普政府的合作。上个月，两国达成了一项史无前例的协议，根据该协议，美国将接管委内瑞拉约五分之一的石油储备。

波拉克写道，美国承认马杜罗任命的罗德里格斯而非马杜罗本人，这“很不合情理”。他指出，罗德里格斯及其政府官员在1月和2月发表的声明表明，他们仍然认为马杜罗是委内瑞拉的合法国家元首。

罗德里格斯政府此后对此事保持沉默。近几个月来，加拉加斯的一些马杜罗壁画已被涂抹掉。

检察官必须在 10 月 2 日前对马杜罗提出的驳回起诉动议作出回应，赫勒斯坦将于 11 月 17 日就驳回起诉一事举行听证会。