Former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and the Department of Justice have proposed a June 2027 start date for his criminal trial.
The proposal came in a filing ahead of a hearing scheduled in a Manhattan court. “Accordingly, the parties jointly propose the following schedule for discovery, pretrial motions, and trial … to commence: June 2027,” the filing reportedly states.
According to the indictment against Maduro, Venezuelan leaders have “abused their positions of public trust and corrupted once-legitimate institutions to import tons of cocaine into the United States” for over 25 years. Maduro is “at the forefront of that corruption and has partnered with his co-conspirators to use his illegally obtained authority and the institutions he corroded to transport thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States.” The indictment states that Maduro “moved loads of cocaine under the protection of Venezuelan law enforcement.”
Maduro also provided “Venezuelan diplomatic passports to drug traffickers and facilitated diplomatic cover for planes used by money launderers to repatriate drug proceeds from Mexico to Venezuela,” the document adds.
During his January court appearance, he declared in Spanish to the judge, “I am not guilty,” as per NBC News. He added, “I am a decent man. I am still the president of my country.” Maduro further stated, “I am a kidnapped president. I am a prisoner of war.”
In March, a Manhattan judge declined to dismiss drug trafficking and narcoterrorism charges against Maduro, rejecting a defense argument that U.S. sanctions are blocking him from paying his lawyers.
