Slimmed down Nicolas Maduro and wife return to court after three months in ‘hellhole’ jail…as judge refuses to dismiss charges against ousted Venezuelan leader

Deposed Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro returned to court today with his wife after spending nearly three months locked up in a brutal federal prison.

This marks the first time Maduro, 63, and former First Lady Cilia Flores have appeared before a judge in New York since a hearing at the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn following their dramatic arrests in January.

Wearing prison-issued trousers and a top and leg shackles, the socialist leader’s face looked noticeably thinner as he entered the courtroom.

She smiled politely and greeted her team in English, telling her lawyer, Barry Pollack, that she looked ‘elegant’.

Meanwhile, his wife, Cilia Flores, 69, appeared to have fully recovered from the injuries reported during the couple’s capture; He was no longer wearing bandages or had any visible bruises on his face.

Maduro’s lawyers calledhe dropped the drug trafficking indictment due to a geopolitical dispute over legal fees.

The trial began with an argument between the defense and prosecution over whether Maduro should be allowed to use Venezuelan government funds to pay for his defense.

The defense insisted the United States violated the deposed leader’s constitutional rights. block government money preventing it from being used for legal expenses.

Maduro, with his wife Cilia Flores (left) and his legal team, attended the hearing on narco-terrorism charges in New York

Maduro, 63, and former First Lady Cilia Flores, 69, are accused of conspiring to smuggle drugs into the United States from Venezuela after their dramatic capture in Caracas earlier this year.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein appeared skeptical about the reasons why Maduro and his wife should not be allowed to receive funds from the Venezuelan government to pay legal fees.

The couple cannot use the money from Caracas because they are under US government sanctions that have been in place since the second Obama administration.

Despite requests from defense, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) refused to grant them a waiver of use of the funds.

Prosecutor Kyle Wirshba said the case was ‘unique’ but the sanctions were valid for national security and foreign policy reasons.

At some point, Maduro’s lawyer claimed that the solution was simply to drop the case.

The judge responded harshly: ‘I will not dismiss the case.’

Judge Hellerstein stated that the USA has been ‘doing business with Venezuela’ since Maduro’s capture.

Wirshba said the sanctions were necessary because there were ‘limited relations’ with Caracas and that Maduro and Flores should not have access to funds.

A motorcade carrying the ousted Venezuelan President believed to be in federal court was seen leaving the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn before sunrise on Thursday.

The couple were held at the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, described by former inmates as ‘hell on earth’.

A statue bearing the likeness of the ousted Venezuelan president was hung from a tree outside the courthouse ahead of Thursday’s hearing.

Judge Hellerstein appeared to suggest that the success of the Trump administration’s operation to oust Maduro and the war in Iran made sanctions pointless.

The judge said: ‘We do business with Venezuela. Oil interests in Venezuela are of vital importance, especially due to the shortage caused by the Strait of Hormuz.

‘The defendant is here. Miss Flores is here. They no longer pose a national security threat. I can’t see that’.

Judge Hellerstein said Maduro and Flores’ right to defend themselves in a complex case that will require extensive investigations is “very important.”

He said the Venezuelan government was no longer involved in the human rights violations that led to sanctions.

‘We (the US) fixed this,’ the judge said.

Wirshba argued that Maduro was accused of ‘plundering the wealth of Venezuela’ and that the sanctions were ‘justified’.

But the judge appeared unconvinced and asked what remedies might potentially be available.

US special forces captured the controversial Venezuelan leader at the beginning of the year on President Trump’s orders

The Venezuelan dictator and his wife were photographed arriving at the Wall Street Heliport in New York City surrounded by DEA agents on January 5.

Wirshba said the best thing he could do was go back to OFAC and ask them to reconsider.

Maduro’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, said his client has earned more than $18 billion from Venezuelan oil sales since his arrest, meaning the money used for his defense would not be ‘tainted’ by his alleged criminal activity.

The judge said he would decide later.

During the hearing, Flores’ lawyer, Mark Donnelly, also requested medical assistance, stating that his client needed an echocardiogram due to mitral valve prolapse.

This common condition occurs when the valve between the left heart chamber does not close properly.

The judge said he would help make that happen.

During a tense and awkward moment, Donnelly tried to address Flores as “First Lady” but was quickly corrected by the judge, who said there was “no title” in the courtroom.

Judge Hellerstein also ruled that Maduro and his wife cannot share information about the case with other defendants who have not yet been arrested, including Venezuelan interior minister Diosdado Cabello.

NYPD officers stood guard outside the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse early Thursday morning before media, protesters and the public gathered.

The dictator’s supporters were seen gathering in front of the courthouse with flags and banners in their hands.

The judge left it to the lawyers to find the full testimony for both sides. The next date has not been determined.

Maduro and Flores spent more than a decade enjoying a rich life as Venezuela’s president and first lady, but have had to adjust to life in the troubled prison, where former inmates include R Kelly, Diddy and Ghislaine Maxwell.

MDC is described as ‘hell on earth’ by former prisoners, and it is stated that Maduro and his wife will probably spend 23 hours a day in solitary confinement in a cell.

In the past, MDC inmates have complained about unsanitary conditions and inedible food microwaved in the plastic containers it arrived in.

Maxwell claimed that her hair fell out due to the stress of the conditions while she was detained at MDC, where she will be tried for child sex trafficking in 2021.

Earlier, a convoy of dark SUVs and law enforcement vehicles believed to be carrying Maduro and Flores to court was seen leaving the MDC before dawn on Thursday morning.

This is in stark contrast to their first high-profile court hearing, when the pair were dramatically flown by helicopter from a football field near the prison to a helipad in Manhattan and then driven to court in armored vehicles.

There was a heavy police and security presence at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan US Courthouse as the dictator’s supporters gathered outside ahead of the hearing.

Maduro in a court sketch during his hearing in Manhattan on January 5

A group of approximately 50 protesters was seen carrying banners saying “Free Nicolas Maduro” and chanting “prisoner of war” slogans.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein has heard progress in the trial from both sides, but there is a risk the case could turn into another spectacle.

During his first court appearance in January, Maduro shouted at a man in the public gallery and claimed he was ‘kidnapped’ from Caracas by US Special Forces on January 3 in a daring raid approved by Donald Trump.

As he left the court, Maduro shouted in the public gallery, “I am a man of God” and claimed that he was a “prisoner of war.”

Maduro and Flores are accused of smuggling drugs from Venezuela to the United States.

Prosecutors allege he was involved in the kidnapping and murder of people who stood in their way, including a drug kingpin in Caracas.

They face life imprisonment if convicted.

The arrests follow months of pressure from the Trump administration on Maduro and his allies, who have imposed a blockade on ships leaving the country.

Since then, Trump has boasted that he is “ruling” the country under the leadership of Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez.

He freed political prisoners and reorganized the country’s leadership, but Maduro’s party remains in power.

Venezuela also reestablished diplomatic relations with the United States for the first time in seven years.

Maduro and Flores, who appeared in court for the first time in January, were taken from Brooklyn to Manhattan by helicopter and taken to court in an armored vehicle.

Flores’ lawyer, Mark Donnelly, asked for an x-ray to be taken because he suffered “serious injuries” at the time of his arrest.