A United States judge has said that he will not dismiss the drug-trafficking and weapons possession charges brought against former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores.But in a Thursday court hearing, Judge Alvin Hellerstein questioned whether the US government has the right to bar Venezuela from funding Maduro’s legal expenses.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listThe hearing was the first for Maduro and his wife since a brief January arraignment, where they pleaded not guilty.Maduro and Flores have sought to have the charges against them thrown out. Hellerstein declined to do so, but he pressed the prosecution on some of the issues Maduro’s legal team raised in its petition to dismiss the case.Among them was a decision by the administration of US President Donald Trump to prevent the Venezuelan government from financing Maduro’s defence.Federal prosecutors argued that national security reasons prevented the US from allowing such payments. They also pointed to ongoing sanctions against the Venezuelan government.But Hellerstein pushed back against that argument, noting that Trump had eased sanctions against Venezuela since Maduro’s abduction on January 3. He also questioned how Maduro might pose a security threat while imprisoned in New York.“The defendant is here. Flores is here. They present no further national security threat,” said Hellerstein. “I see no abiding interest of national security on the right to defend themselves.”Hellerstein emphasised that, in the US, all criminal defendants have the right to a vigorous defence, as part of the US Constitution’s Sixth Amendment. Advertisement “The right that’s implicated, paramount over other rights, is the right to constitutional counsel,” he said.Maduro, who led …
