Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday pleaded not guilty to all U.S. charges during his first court appearance in New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am innocent, I am not guilty,\u201d Maduro told the court, adding that he was \u201ckidnapped\u201d at his home in Caracas and that he remains the president of Venezuela, according to media inside the courtroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maduro\u2019s wife, Cilia Flores, said at court that she is completely innocent of the charges brought against her by the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next hearing on the case against Maduro is scheduled for March 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Protesters gathering outside the court were shouting slogans and holding banners of \u201cFree Maduro,\u201d \u201cNo War on Venezuela,\u201d and \u201cUSA hands off Venezuela.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe charges are completely outrageous,\u201d Sydney Loving, one of the protesters told Xinhua. \u201cWe\u2019re against any intervention like that on a sovereign nation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo kidnap a president of another country is absolutely crossing red line. It definitely violates international law,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the early hours of Saturday, U.S. military forces carried out attacks and bombings in Caracas and other parts of Venezuela and took Maduro and his wife by force, before putting them in custody in New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. attacks have shocked the international community, triggering a steady stream of condemnation and serious concerns worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Saturday, people took to the streets across more than 100 U.S. cities, including Washington, Boston, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago and Miami, protesting against the U.S. military operation on the oil-rich South American nation, demanding the U.S. government to free Maduro. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday pleaded not guilty to all U.S. charges during his first court appearance in New York. \u201cI am innocent, I am not guilty,\u201d Maduro told the court, adding that he was \u201ckidnapped\u201d at his home in Caracas and that he remains the president of Venezuela, according to media inside the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8864,"featured_media":41738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[105,98,161,9505],"tags":[9664,31,109,9663,8764],"class_list":["post-41737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","category-news","category-world","category-jnews_demo_world","tag-caracas","tag-featured","tag-news","tag-nicolas-maduro","tag-venezuela"],"yoast_head":"\n