Get you up to speed: Venezuela’s Maduro asserts immunity in US court, urges dismissal of charges
Nicolas Maduro has requested a US judge in Manhattan to dismiss drug trafficking charges against him, claiming immunity as a head of state. He was previously abducted and imprisoned on January 3, following a military raid in Caracas authorised by former US President Donald Trump.
Prosecutors have until October 2 to respond to Maduro’s motion to dismiss the indictment, with a hearing scheduled for November 17. Delcy Rodriguez has been acting as interim leader of Venezuela since Maduro’s abduction in January, amid ongoing tensions regarding international recognition of leadership in the country.
Nicolas Maduro’s legal team has filed a motion in a Manhattan district court to dismiss drug trafficking charges against him, arguing he enjoys immunity as a head of state; prosecutors have until October 2 to respond. A hearing on the dismissal motion is scheduled for November 17, where the court will assess the application of international law in this unprecedented case.
What remains unclear — It is not specified how the US courts will respond to legal arguments concerning Maduro’s immunity and jurisdiction in this case.
Maduro asserts immunity in US court, requests dismissal of drug charges
News|Nicolas MaduroVenezuela’s Maduro asserts immunity in US court, urges dismissal of charges
Former Venezuelan leader was abducted by US forces during a military attack on Caracas in January.
Published On 3 Sep 20263 Sep 2026
Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has urged a United States judge to dismiss the criminal drug trafficking charges against him, arguing he should be immune from prosecution as the head of a sovereign country.
Maduro’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, made the appeal in a Manhattan district court on Wednesday.
His legal team has petitioned District Judge Alvin Hellerstein to dismiss the case, which will test the willingness of US courts to apply international law to criminal cases.
Maduro was abducted and imprisoned on January 3, after US President Donald Trump authorised a military raid in Caracas. The former Venezuelan leader, who has been held in a Brooklyn federal jail, has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go on trial on June 1, 2027, if his effort to dismiss the case is unsuccessful.
The principle that sitting heads of state are immune from prosecution abroad is a longstanding tenet of international law, seen as fundamental to diplomacy.
Judge Hellerstein had given Pollack a Wednesday deadline to file his motion to dismiss the case.
Pollack has argued that Hellerstein lacks jurisdiction, both because sovereign heads of state enjoy complete immunity and because the acts that Maduro is accused of would have been part of his official duties.
“This unprecedented prosecution violates the absolute immunity from criminal jurisdiction to which heads of state and foreign officials acting in their official capacities have been entitled for hundreds of years,” Pollack wrote.
Pollack added that Maduro was falsely accused and “vehemently denies” the allegations.
A spokesperson for the Manhattan US Attorney’s office, which brought the charges, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Maduro faces uphill battle
Legal experts have told the Reuters news agency that Maduro faces an uphill battle.
Washington has not recognised Maduro as Venezuela’s president for years, due to disputed elections. Courts tend to defer to the US president and his cabinet in disputes over who is recognised as a foreign country’s leader.
US criminal cases involving heads of foreign states are extremely rare, but precedent offers little encouragement for Maduro. In 1990, a federal judge in Miami rejected former Panamanian military leader Manuel Noriega’s attempt to assert head-of-state immunity, in part because he never officially held the title of president.
The US stopped recognising Maduro in 2019, when he was inaugurated for a second time after a 2018 election that critics say was rigged. Washington also called his 2024 re-election fraudulent.
Maduro says both votes were fair and has long accused the US of seeking his ouster to gain control of the South American country’s oil wealth.
Pollack, however, wrote that Washington’s assessment that Maduro lacked legitimacy was not relevant.
“Unlike in Noriega, the Executive Branch does not dispute that Mr Maduro was Venezuela’s head of state, but instead merely claims that, after 2019, he did not occupy that position legitimately,” Pollack wrote.
Venezuela run by Maduro’s vice president
Since Maduro’s abduction, his former vice president and socialist ally, Delcy Rodriguez, has run Venezuela as its interim leader.
She has also increased cooperation with the Trump administration. Last month, the two countries reached an unprecedented deal that would see the US take over about one-fifth of Venezuela’s oil reserves.
Pollack wrote that it was “incongruous” for the US to recognise Rodriguez, who was appointed by Maduro, and not Maduro himself. He pointed to statements by Rodriguez and officials in her government, made in January and February, indicating that they still considered Maduro Venezuela’s legitimate head of state.
Rodriguez’s government has since gone silent on the matter. Some murals of Maduro in Caracas have been painted over in recent months.
Prosecutors have until October 2 to respond to Maduro’s motion to dismiss the indictment, and Hellerstein will hold a hearing on the dismissal effort on November 17.