Venezuela moves on without Maduro as he fights charges in US court

Former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro returns to a New York courtroom Thursday as he seeks to have his drug trafficking indictment thrown out over a geopolitical dispute over legal fees.

Maduro's lawyer contends that the US is violating the deposed leader's constitutional rights by blocking Venezuelan government funds from being used to pay his legal costs.

It's the first time that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, will be in court since a January arraignment at which he protested their capture by US military forces and declared: “I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the constitutional president of my country.”

Flores has also pleaded not guilty.Both remain jailed at a detention centre in Brooklyn, and neither has asked to be released on bail. Judge Alvin Hellerstein has yet to set a trial date, though that could happen at the hearing. Maduro, 63, and Flores, 69, continue to enjoy some support in Venezuela, with murals and billboards across the capital, Caracas, demanding their return.

But while Maduro's ruling party remains in power, he has slowly been erased from the government of Delcy Rodriguez, Venezuela's acting president.