A judge in ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s case said he will make a decision on whether the U.S. is illegally stopping Venezuela’s government from paying his legal fees as “soon as I can.”
While U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein questioned the U.S. government’s justification for blocking these funds, he did not dismiss the drug trafficking case against Maduro, Reuters reported.
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Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were taken from their home in January by U.S. military forces and arrested. Both pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.
U.S. sanctions prevent Maduro’s legal team from getting money from the Venezuelan government without permission from the U.S. government. He and Flores’ lawyers have said they don’t have the money to pay their legal fees.
The couple’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, said in court that his defendants have a right, not just to competent counsel, “but counsel of his choice, and the right to use untainted funds for that purpose.”
The Sixth Amendment requires someone accused of a crime to have legal representation.
Pollack previously said he wants to withdraw from the case if it isn’t dismissed and the Venezuelan government cannot pay his fees.
A federal prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Wirshba, argued that “it would undermine the sanctions to allow them to access those funds now.”
“The defendants are plundering the wealth of Venezuela,” Wirshba said.
Hellerstein, though, said that neither defendant poses a “further national security threat.”
“The right that’s implicated, paramount over other rights, is the right to constitutional counsel,” the judge said.
After the hearing, Maduro and Flores returned to the Brooklyn detention center where they are being jailed. During a cabinet meeting Thursday, President Donald Trump said the U.S. plans to bring additional cases against them.
