Former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has petitioned a U.S. federal court to dismiss criminal charges against him, arguing he is immune from prosecution as a recognized head of state.
Maduro's lawyer, Barry Pollack, filed the motion Wednesday in Manhattan district court before Judge Alvin Hellerstein. The petition contends that heads of state are "exempt from the criminal process of any national court" except in their own country, citing what Pollack described as "a rule older than the common law."
"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 said in the filing.
Maduro, 63, faces four criminal counts in New York, including narcoterrorism and drug trafficking. His wife, Cilia Flores, is also detained in the United States and named in the charges. The defense motion argues the court "lacks jurisdiction" to prosecute either of them.
According to the legal filings, Maduro and Flores were captured in Caracas on January 3 during a U.S. military operation authorized by President Donald Trump. They were subsequently transported to the United States, where they have remained in custody. Maduro has been imprisoned for approximately eight months as of Wednesday.
The defense documents assert that the prosecution violates "absolute immunity" to which heads of state and foreign officials acting in their official capacity have been entitled "for hundreds of years" under international law. Pollack's motion states that common law sovereign immunity deprives the court of jurisdiction to adjudicate charges against Maduro as both a sovereign head of state and a foreign official prosecuted for acts attributable to the sovereign.
The case is scheduled for trial to begin June 1, 2027. The motion to dismiss will test whether U.S. courts apply international law principles of sovereign immunity to criminal prosecutions of foreign leaders.
Following Maduro's capture, his former vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, has served as interim leader of Venezuela under pressure from Washington.