00:00A U.S. judge on Wednesday set a June 1, 2027 trial date for Venezuela's ousted president,
00:06Nicolas Maduro, and his wife, Cecilia Flores, on drug trafficking charges.
00:11Neither Maduro nor his wife spoke during Wednesday's 15-minute hearing,
00:15where the American judge set the date at the request of both sides.
00:19Under an agreed timetable, defense lawyers will begin filing motions in early September challenging the indictment.
00:26Maduro's lawyer said he would challenge the case on sovereign immunity grounds
00:30while contesting the legality of what he called a military abduction.
00:34The couple has been held in a Brooklyn jail since a U.S. military operation in January,
00:39facing charges of conspiring to traffic thousands of tons of cocaine into the United States.
00:45Both have pleaded not guilty and faced possible life sentences if convicted.
00:51While U.S. President Donald Trump's administration described the raid
00:54as a surgical law enforcement operation,
00:56Maduro has called himself a prisoner of war and described his capture as a kidnapping.
01:02Outside the court, demonstrators held signs in support of the ousted president and his wife,
01:07who have not requested bail.
01:09The probation is a crime!
01:11The probation is a crime!
01:12The probation is a crime!
01:12The probation is a crime!
01:12The probation is a crime!
01:13The probation is a crime!
01:13The probation is a crime!
01:13The probation is a crime!
01:13The probation is a crime!
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