TYRANT VS TYRANT

FORTY hours after his brutal reign over Venezuela ended in a blitz of deafening explosions and gunfire, despot Nicolas Maduro was in front of a US judge at the Federal Courthouse in New York.

- BY CHRIS HUGHES

Dressed in blue and orange prison garb and slippers, he stood before a judge for half an hour, flanked by heavily armed guards, as a 20-page list of narco-trafficking and weapons charges was put to him.

His seizure along with his wife in a major weekend US military operation has reverberated around the world with questions raised over the legality of the mission.

Human rights lawyer Philippe Sands said yesterday that it was "manifestly illegal under international law and cannot plausibly or by any reasonable standard be characterised as a law enforcement action".

Emily Thornberry, chair of the UK's Foreign Affairs Committee, has accused Trump of going after the country's oil under the guise of his war on drugs.

She said: "Just because larger countries can walk into smaller ones doesn't mean they are allowed to."

Maduro, 63, wearing headphones for translation purposes, told Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Spanish: "I am Nicolas Maduro, the President of Venezuela. I was captured at my home in Caracas.

"I am an innocent man. I am a decent man."

He pleaded not guilty to the series of narcotics and weapons charges, declaring: "I am not guilty. I am an innocent man and I am still the president of my country."

His wife Cilia Flores, 69, sitting two seats away and facing similar charges, echoed her husband's defiance, saying she was "The First Lady of Venezuela". She also plead not guilty.

She appeared to have visible bruising, while her husband walked with a limp.

Court proceedings, following the arraignment hearing, will continue on March 17 at 11am.

It is understood neither applied for bail.