NEW YORK — Venezuela’s former first lady wants to be let out of jail while she and her husband await trial on U.S. drug trafficking charges.
The lawyers, Mark Donnelly and Andres Sanchez, asked a judge to allow her to leave a Brooklyn federal jail for a home within the Manhattan federal court district where she and Maduro are scheduled to stand trial next June. Federal prosecutors have yet to file a response. A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan declined to comment. The judge, Alvin K. Hellerstein, has yet to rule on Flores’ request. Both have pleaded not guilty to charges alleging that they were part of a conspiracy to send cocaine into the U.S. In a separate court filing, they recently asked that their indictment be dismissed on the grounds that they have immunity as the leader and first lady of a foreign country.
There, the lawyers said, she will be under 24-hour-a-day armed surveillance and will only be allowed to see visitors approved by the court and federal prosecutors.
Cilia Flores, the wife of ex-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, “deserves the opportunity to await her trial while on home confinement” while dealing with a heart condition that has only gotten worse since she’s been in jail, her lawyers wrote in court papers filed Wednesday. The home will be monitored by video and her calls will be recorded, the lawyers said.
