A federal judge in Manhattan has scheduled the trial of ousted Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, to begin on 1 June 2027. The date was set during a 20-minute hearing on Wednesday before US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, after both the prosecution and the defence jointly proposed the timeline. Maduro, 63, and Flores, 69, appeared in beige prison uniforms and have pleaded not guilty to charges including narcoterrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and weapons offences. If convicted, they could face life imprisonment.

Defence lawyer Barry Pollack told the court he would seek to dismiss the case on the grounds that Maduro enjoys sovereign immunity as a former head of state. The defence is also expected to challenge the legality of the couple’s capture. US commandos seized Maduro and Flores from their heavily guarded residence in Caracas on 3 January in a night-time raid ordered by President Donald Trump. The Trump administration has described the operation as a lawful police action against a fugitive, while Maduro has called himself a “prisoner of war” and accused Washington of seeking his removal to gain control over Venezuela’s oil reserves.

Under the approved schedule, the defence must file its first round of motions to dismiss the case by 2 September, with a hearing on those motions set for 17 November. A second round of motions may be filed by 11 January 2027 after prosecutors disclose any classified evidence. The United States classifies Maduro as a corrupt dictator whose economic mismanagement caused Venezuela’s collapse, and it ceased recognising him as the country’s legitimate president in 2019. Since his capture, Venezuela has been led by former vice-president Delcy Rodríguez, while Washington effectively controls the country’s oil exports, with proceeds held in US-supervised accounts.

In addition to the criminal case, Maduro faces a civil lawsuit filed in early July by the families of five young men killed in Venezuela, who allege he ordered extrajudicial executions through an elite security force. The legal proceedings were delayed earlier this year by a dispute over funding for Maduro’s defence, which was resolved in April when the US Treasury allowed Venezuela to pay the legal fees. The trial is expected to be one of the most consequential criminal cases involving a former foreign head of state in recent US history.