US trial date set for Venezuela's ousted president Nicolas Maduro over drugs trafficking charges

Venezuela's captured president Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores appeared in a US court today over drugs trafficking charges.

Judge Alvin Hellerstein set a 1 June 2027 trial date for the couple during the brief 13 minute hearing and approved a schedule for pretrial motions.

Maduro wore a beige prison uniform, trainers and dark glasses as he was led into ​the Manhattan courtroom for his latest appearance in one of the most consequential criminal cases in recent US history.

Outside the courthouse, his supporters denounced the charges as being fabricated by the United States.

The couple were dramatically captured by US Special Forces from their home in Caracas, Venezuela, during a night-time raid on 3 January ordered by US President Donald Trump.

Maduro, 63, and Flores, 69, were taken to New York, where both pleaded not guilty to using their leadership positions in the oil-rich South American country to facilitate cocaine shipments.

The charges included narco-terrorism conspiracy and possession of machine guns and destructive devices.

Neither spoke during Wednesday hearing and each sat separately at a defence table, surrounded by their lawyers.

They could face life prison sentences if a jury agrees they were part of a conspiracy to send thousands of tonnes of cocaine into the US.

Prosecutors say Maduro colluded with Venezuelan law enforcement to help drug kingpins.

But he denies the accusation. "I am not guilty," Maduro said in Spanish at his arraignment hearing in January. "I am a decent man, the constitutional president of my country."

During Wednesday's hearing, prosecutor Henry Ross said the government believed the schedule would keep the case moving, while Maduro's lawyer, Barry Pollack said the parties considered the June trial date realistic.

Pollack has said he expects to contest the legality of Maduro's "military abduction". On Wednesday, Pollack said he will first challenge the indictment on sovereign immunity grounds.

Maduro has called himself a prisoner of war and his capture a kidnapping.

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But the Trump administration has defended the raid as a "surgical law enforcement operation" in a criminal case first brought six years ago.

Maduro and Flores had not asked to be released on bail.

(c) Sky News 2026: US trial date set for Venezuela's ousted president Nicolas Maduro over drugs trafficking charg