Wife of ex-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro seeks release from U.S. jail

NEW YORK — The wife of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is set to be back in court Thursday, where her lawyers will urge a judge to free her from jail and put her under house arrest due to ongoing heart problems.

Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores have been behind bars in New York since early January when forces seized them from their Caracas home in a middle-of-the-night raid.

Both have pleaded not guilty in a criminal case first brought six years ago against them and numerous alleged co-conspirators. They face potential life prison sentences if convicted of being part of a conspiracy to send cocaine into the U.S.

Their attorneys have asked for the case to be dismissed on the grounds that they have immunity as the leader and first lady of a foreign country.

Lawyers for Flores, 69, have also argued that she has medical issues that cannot be treated effectively in jail, and that she could instead be allowed to live under 24-hour guard at a residence in New York.

They also said she suffered permanent scarring when she was “thrown against a wall or dresser” during the U.S. military action that led to her capture.

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business