Shackled and defiant, Maduro pleads not guilty to US narcotics charges

NEW YORK — Shackled at the ankles and dressed in prison garb, toppled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro stood before a U.S. judge on Monday and declared he was still his country’s rightful leader as he faced charges that could put him behind bars for life. “I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I am still president of my country,” Maduro said through an interpreter, his voice rising before Judge Alvin Hellerstein cut him off. The 63-year-old, captured days earlier in a dramatic U.S. military raid, wore orange slippers, beige pants ‍and layered black and orange shirts. He scribbled notes on a legal pad while lawyers discussed what promises to be a bruising legal fight. He faces four U.S. federal criminal counts that include narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy and possession of machine guns and destructive devices. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. His lawyer Barry Pollack told Hellerstein that he expects extensive litigation over the legality of Maduro’s “military abduction.” Maduro’s wife Cilia Flores also pleaded not g

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