Ex-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and wife seek to end drug charges case on immunity grounds
Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have filed motions to dismiss U.S. drug trafficking charges against them, citing sovereign immunity. Their legal team argues that as heads of state, they are exempt from the criminal jurisdiction of foreign national courts.
Why it matters
This case tests the limits of international law and sovereign immunity regarding criminal prosecution of foreign leaders by U.S. courts.
Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife asked a judge on Wednesday 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 Maduro said a judge was required by law to reject the indictment because it cannot be brought against a foreign leader.
"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," the lawyers wrote. "That is not an accident of history. It reflects a rule older than the common law: heads of state are exempt from the criminal process of any national court but their own."
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