New York (New York, USA), Jan. 5 (LaPresse) – Ousted Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro is set to appear today for the first time in a U.S. court on charges of narcoterrorism. Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores are scheduled to appear at noon local time, 6 p.m. in Italy, before a judge for a brief legal proceeding that will likely start a lengthy legal battle over the possibility of prosecuting him in the United States. The couple will be transferred from a Brooklyn prison to a Manhattan courthouse. As a defendant in the U.S. judicial system, Maduro will have the same rights as any other person accused of a crime, including the right to a trial by a jury of New York citizens. His lawyers are expected to challenge the legality of his arrest, arguing that he enjoys immunity from prosecution as a sovereign head of state.
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