Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have asked a US judge to dismiss drug trafficking charges against them, arguing that they are protected by sovereign immunity.


Lawyers for Maduro made the request in papers filed in a federal court in Manhattan on September 2. They argued that a US court could not prosecute a foreign leader who was recognised by his own country as its sitting head of state when the charges were brought, Caliber.Az reports, citing  American news agency


“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.”


Maduro, 63, and Flores, 69, are due to stand trial on June 1 next year. Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein has scheduled arguments on the motions to dismiss for November 17.


In separate filings, lawyers for Flores also argued that she was protected from prosecution under sovereign immunity.


“It is an attribute of Venezuela’s sovereignty, and only Venezuela may surrender it,” her lawyers wrote.


Maduro's lawyers also argued that, even if he was not entitled to immunity as a head of state, he was protected by conduct-based sovereign immunity.


The former president “vehemently denies the allegations against him”, his lawyers said.


“If this case were to proceed to trial, it would be apparent that he has been falsely accused,” they said.


Maduro and Flores have pleaded not guilty. The charges were originally brought six years ago against Maduro and several alleged co-conspirators.


US prosecutors allege that Maduro was involved in a conspiracy to move thousands of tonnes of cocaine into the United States by working with Venezuelan law enforcement to assist drug traffickers.


The charges could carry a life prison sentence if a jury finds them guilty of the alleged conspiracy.


US federal prosecutors are expected to respond to the immunity arguments later this month.


Maduro and his wife have been held at a jail in Brooklyn since US forces seized them from their home in Caracas during a raid in January and brought them to New York.


The Trump administration has described the operation as a “surgical law enforcement operation”. Maduro has described himself as a prisoner of war and called his capture a kidnapping.


By Aghakazim Guliyev