The federal judge overseeing the prosecution of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro has died at age 92.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, a longtime Manhattan-based jurist, died Wednesday morning, a court spokesperson told Politico. Appointed by President Bill Clinton, he had served on the federal bench since 1998.
Hellerstein also presided over litigation stemming from the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The Maduro case will be randomly reassigned to another federal judge, court spokesperson Ed Friedland told the outlet.
On Oct. 8, Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were charged with conspiring to commit torture, adding to the narcoterrorism conspiracy, cocaine-importation conspiracy, and weapons charges both already faced.
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In one instance, prosecutors say an American citizen was detained in 2022 after entering Venezuela and was accused of conspiring to assassinate Maduro. While detained, the man was subjected to beatings and electric shocks to his arms, legs, and genitals, prosecutors allege.
Earlier this month, Hellerstein denied Flores’s request for release after claiming she lost two molars and more than 25 pounds in jail, The Daily Wire reported.
An attorney for Flores, 69, argued that she should be allowed to move to home detention at a private residence in New York to receive proper medical treatment. She also cited a worsening heart condition that she said was aggravated by pepper spray used after a fight broke out in her housing unit.
Federal prosecutors, however, argued that releasing Flores would pose an “extreme risk of flight and danger to the public,” adding that she could be taken to a local hospital for necessary treatment.
“For whatever it’s worth, her appearance today is no worse and perhaps a little better than when I first met with her on her arraignment,” Hellerstein said in court, referring to her January 5 arraignment after U.S. forces captured her.
Flores’s lawyer responded that she “was still bandaged up from the military invasion.”
“Since the capture and arrest of Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, the Department of Justice has been working to uncover the extent of their alleged crimes against the people of Venezuela and of the United States,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said when announcing the torture charges. “These additional charges against the Maduros reflect the dedication of this Administration to delivering justice for the victims of torture, narcoterrorism, and organized crime.”
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