Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife asked a judge on Wednesday (September 2, 2026) to dismiss the drug trafficking indictment against them on the grounds that they have immunity as the leader and first lady of a foreign country.
In papers filed in Manhattan federal court, lawyers for Mr. Mr. Meanwhile, the lawyers argued, Mr. Maduro “vehemently denies the allegations against him.
In separate papers filed on Wednesday (September 2), lawyers for Flores said she too has immunity from U.S. prosecution on sovereign immunity grounds. Because it cannot be brought against a foreign leader, maduro said a judge was required by law to reject the indictment. Because he is also entitled to conduct-based sovereign immunity, maduro were not entitled to sovereign immunity as the head of state, the case against him must be dismissed.
Maduro’s lawyers said that even if Mr. “If this case were to proceed to trial, it would be apparent that he has been falsely accused,” they said.
President Donald Trump’s administration has defended the raid to capture Mr. Maduro as a “surgical law enforcement operation. Mr. Maduro has called himself a prisoner of war and his capture a kidnapping.
