Afət Ziyadqızı
Lawyers for Cilia Flores, the wife of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was detained during a US military intervention on Jan. 3, have asked that she be transferred to house arrest because of health problems.
Operative Information Center-OMM reports that the lawyers said in a petition filed with a federal court in Manhattan that Flores’ heart condition had deteriorated in prison.
The petition said Flores had the right to await the court proceedings under house arrest.
The next hearing for Maduro and Flores is expected to take place in June next year.
The lawyers said Flores could stay at a residence in Manhattan during that period.
According to them, if house arrest is granted, Flores would remain under the 24-hour supervision of armed military personnel.
She would be allowed to meet only with people authorized by the court or prosecutors, while the residence would be monitored through a video surveillance system.
The court has not yet ruled on the request.
Maduro and his wife have been held at a prison in Brooklyn since January.
On Jan. 3, explosions and the sound of aircraft were heard in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela.
The Venezuelan authorities subsequently accused the United States of organizing attacks on civilian and military facilities in various parts of the country.
US President Donald Trump announced that a large-scale attack had been carried out against Nicolas Maduro and that Maduro and his wife had been removed from the country.
Then-US Attorney General Pam Bondi said criminal proceedings had been opened against Maduro and Flores in the United States.
Maduro was charged with narco-terrorism, cocaine trafficking, and possessing machine guns and destructive devices against the United States.
The Venezuelan government called on the international community to condemn the United States.
Although a number of countries criticized the attack, some states expressed support for the United States.
Requests for house arrest based on medical conditions are generally assessed by courts after reviewing medical evidence, security concerns and the risk of flight. Any decision in Flores’ case will determine where she remains pending the proceedings.
