On January 7 Saab has a hearing in Miami, in which the date of the trial is expected to be scheduled.
Colombian-Venezuelan businessman Alex Saab, considered the front man of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, urged a US appeals court to address the issue of diplomatic immunity in the money laundering conspiracy case he faces in a court in Miami (Florida).
In a document presented this week before the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, based in Atlanta (Georgia), Saab’s defense requests to dismiss the accusation arguing that his client has diplomatic immunity, and also indicates that it is that court that must decide on the matter.
This “court will ultimately decide immunity in all events, and the demands of this case practically oblige this Court to address the issue of immunity at this time”, details the document, to which it had access Efe.
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The motion responds to a request by the Prosecutor’s Office that asks to dismiss the appeal presented in April by Saab in Atlanta to a ruling by a Miami judge that qualifies him as a “fugitive from United States justice.”
According to the defense, “Saab argued that the Court should address the issue of immunity, vindicate that immunity and Saab’s indisputable inviolability from arrest and directly dismiss the accusation.”
He adds that “treating Saab as a fugitive would be tantamount to denying his immunity.”
For his lawyers, the appeals court must dismiss the motion of the Prosecutor’s Office and “accelerate the argument and the decision to resolve Saab’s claim of immunity as soon as possible.”
On January 7 Saab has a hearing in Miami, which is expected to schedule the date of the trial, which was delayed after both parties considered that January 3, as planned, was not “realistic.”
The start of the trial against Alex Saab in the US is delayed.
Saab, 49, was extradited to the US in October from Cape Verde, where he was arrested last year following an international arrest warrant requested by the US Justice.
The businessman faces a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering in a Miami court, of which he pleaded “not guilty” on November 15 before Judge Alicia M. Otazo-Reyes.
Saab faces a sentence of about 20 years if he is found guilty of the only charge he has in Miami court, a penalty that can be reduced if he makes a deal with the Prosecutor’s Office, which usually includes accusation of other people. (I)
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