Lawyers for Cilia Flores, the wife of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, asked Manhattan Federal Court to place her under house arrest because of a heart condition they say has worsened in prison.
If the application is approved, Flores would be kept under 24-hour armed protection. The residence where she would live under house arrest would be placed under video surveillance, and visitors would be allowed only with permission from the court or the prosecution.
The lawyers say Flores and Maduro have been held at a detention facility in Brooklyn since being removed from Venezuela on January 3. They say the removal was carried out as a result of a U.S. military operation.
In the United States, Maduro faces charges of narco-terrorism, cocaine trafficking, and illegally possessing weapons and explosives. Manhattan Federal Court has not yet announced its decision on the house-arrest application filed for Flores.