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US federal judge Alvin Hellerstein, who was assigned the case of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, has died at the age of 92, according to an announcement by the court where he practiced in New York.
The ability of Hellerstein, who was one of the oldest judges in the country, to preside over the trial of Maduro—who is being prosecuted on charges of drug trafficking and torture—had raised several questions.
During a recent session, he appeared fatigued and had difficulty speaking.
Since the lightning operation carried out by the US military in the Venezuelan capital early this year, Nicolás Maduro (63) and his wife Cilia Flores (70) have been held in a prison in Brooklyn, New York.
Among the cases handled by Hellerstein, who was born in New York in 1933 and graduated from Columbia University, were lawsuits involving circles close to former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, as well as civil cases related to the September 11 attacks, which focused primarily on the US intelligence community's treatment of detainees accused of "terrorism" and the chapters of torture witnessed in US military prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Hellerstein, who was appointed to his final position during the term of President Bill Clinton, also presided over the trial that concluded last October with the conviction of the French bank "BNP Paribas" for complicity in acts of torture in Sudan.
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