Maduro and Wife Plead Not Guilty to New Charges

Dragon Media News Desk

Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, rejected new charges against them and pleaded not guilty at a hearing Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

“These are false accusations against me,” Maduro said when asked to enter his plea. When U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein asked him to clarify, Maduro replied, “I reject this document in its entirety.” The judge then ordered that a not-guilty plea be entered on the record for Maduro.

Asked to respond to the charges, Flores said, “I am completely innocent. I am not guilty.”

During the hearing, prosecutors proposed postponing the start of the trial by two weeks. Maduro’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, described the proposed schedule as demanding in light of the new charges but said he hoped it could be followed.