What Awaits Maduro and His Wife in New York? 0 9

Lame and emaciated, Maduro will remain in jail — his lawyer may be paid for by the U.S. budget.

Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores will remain in custody in New York, reports the website "Duty Officer in America"; this decision was made by a federal court in Manhattan. Both appeared in court noticeably thinner, and Maduro continued to limp — his representatives attribute this to an injury sustained during the capture by American military forces in Caracas on January 3.

The couple's lawyer, Barry Pollack, demanded to dismiss the case, according to CNN. He stated that his clients are unable to access their own funds in Venezuela due to U.S. sanctions, meaning they simply have no means to pay for their defense.

92-year-old Judge Alvin Hellerstein refused to dismiss the case. However, he expressed a willingness to revisit the issue — up to appointing a defender at public expense if it turns out that the White House is deliberately depriving the defendants of the opportunity to hire a lawyer. The prosecutor, for his part, suggested that Maduro address the asset freeze through a separate civil lawsuit.