Venezuela’s ousted president Nicolas Maduro and his wife will go on trial in the United States in June 2027, a court ruled Wednesday, after the US military captured them in a stunning nighttime raid in January.

The former leader, 63, and wife Cilia Flores have been held in a Brooklyn jail for more than seven months after pleading not guilty to federal drug trafficking and firearms charges.

American commandos snatched the pair from their compound in Caracas on January 3. The lightning operation combined naval, air and ground forces, deposing the strongman who had led Venezuela since 2013.

During a roughly 20-minute hearing, Judge Alvin Hellerstein set the trial date for June 1 next year following a joint request from prosecutors and defense counsel.

Maduro, dressed in a beige prison uniform and wearing glasses, did not speak during his third US court appearance other than to say hello to the court as he entered.

Flores, wearing the same outfit with her blonde hair tied back, sat a few feet from him with the couple flanked by their lawyers.

Protesters with signs reading “Free President Maduro” gathered outside the Manhattan courthouse waving Venezuelan flags, while opposing demonstrators held placards calling Maduro and Flores “dictators.”

Judge Hellerstein also on Wednesday set a November 17 hearing devoted to defense motions, including a challenge to the legality of how Maduro and Flores were captured.

Maduro himself has said he was “kidnapped” and described himself as a “prisoner of war” back in January.

Since Maduro’s capture, Venezuela has been led by his former vice president Delcy Rodriguez, while the United States effectively controls the country’s oil exports, with proceeds going into special accounts overseen by Washington.

– Legal battles –

US prosecutors allege that Maduro used state power to protect and promote illegal drug smuggling, and that he allied himself with cartels to ship tons of cocaine into the United States.

Maduro has denied the four counts he faces: “narco-terrorism” conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices as well as conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

Flores has similarly pleaded not guilty to the three counts she faces: cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

The United States in April allowed Venezuela to pay for Maduro’s and Flores’s legal defense, something previously barred by US sanctions.

The couple had sought to have their cases dismissed on grounds that blocking the funding violated the US Constitution’s right to counsel of one’s choice.

Maduro also faces a civil case in the United States after the families of five young men slain in Venezuela alleged that he ordered the extrajudicial killings as part of a wider pattern of state violence.

The complaint filed last month states that Maduro had an elite security force called Special Action Forces, or FAES, execute the men between 2017 and 2020.

It says the victims were among thousands killed under Maduro’s command by units including FAES, which dissolved in 2021 after complaints of human rights abuses including from the United Nations.

During his 2013-2026 presidency, he was widely accused of using political repression to cling to power. Both of his re-elections, in 2018 and 2024, were rejected as fraudulent by numerous countries, including the United States.

Maduro was expected to seek immunity in the civil proceedings as a head of state, The New York Times reported.

AFP