Maduro seeks dismissal of charges, claims US blocked legal defence funds

President Maduro’s lawyer said his client’s right to legal counsel of choice has been denied by US government actions.Published On 27 Feb 2026Venezuela’s abducted President Nicolas Maduro has asked a United States judge to throw out drug trafficking charges brought against him by the Trump administration, alleging that Washington was sabotaging his constitutional right to defend himself.Maduro’s legal team argued on Thursday that the case should be thrown out because the US government has blocked the Venezuelan government from covering the abducted president’s legal fees and those of his wife.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Columbia University says US immigration agents lied to detain studentlist 2 of 3Ecuador hikes tariffs on Colombian imports to 50 percent starting March 1list 3 of 3Cuba says speedboat attackers from Florida planned to destabilise countryend of listBy blocking funds, the US administration was “interfering with Mr. Maduro’s ability to retain counsel and, therefore, his right under the Sixth Amendment to counsel of his choice”, Maduro’s defence lawyer Barry Pollack said in a filing to a Manhattan federal judge.Interference in Maduro’s right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution requires dismissal of the charges, Pollock said.Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been jailed in New York without bail since they were seized from their Venezuelan home on January 3 in a bloody nighttime raid by US military forces.US prosecutors allege that Maduro abused his power in office to help drug traffickers and that his wife was a co-conspirator in those crimes.They have both maintained their innocence.In his filing to the court, Pollack said that the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers sanctions against Venezuela, had granted permission on January 9 for Maduro’s legal fees to be paid by the Venezuelan government.