Maduro U.S. Trial Tests International Law Limits

Nicolas Maduro is charged with drug offenses in the United States, where courts balance between the sovereign immunity and legality of his arrest.

The deposed Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro will be in a New York courtroom that will test the international law and jurisdiction of the U.S. at the highest level. The U.S. prosecutors have issued drug trafficking charges and have attempted to prosecute Maduro, who is likely to fight the arrest based on the sovereign immunity of Maduro under international law.

According to other lawyers, these arguments have not succeeded consistently when prosecution was launched against former Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega, where the case allowed precedents to be set that U.S. courts can still take action in cases where the arrests were made on non-traditional diplomatic patterns. Since Washington has not recognized Maduro as a legitimate head of state of Venezuela, it is likely that such cases of immunity will not pass in court according to the existing law.

There are also constitutional concerns about the executive power, as the Congress did not approve the military operation that resulted in the capture of Maduro. Nonetheless, judicial precedent demonstrates that the executive branch is highly deferred to in the cases concerning foreign policy and criminal law enforcement.

To complicate the issues, U.S. sanctions make it harder to employ legal representation in Maduro, which implies that future cases involving current or former foreign leaders would be treated in American courts differently.