Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro asked a judge on Thursday to throw out his US drug trafficking case, accusing the US government of interfering with his defence by blocking the Venezuelan government from paying his legal fees.

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, both pleaded not guilty on January 5 to drug trafficking charges that could land them in US prison for decades.

They are jailed in New York awaiting trial.

Maduro’s defence lawyer Barry Pollack previously told US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who is overseeing the case, that the Treasury Department on January 9 granted an exception to US financial sanctions on Venezuela so that the South American country’s government could pay Maduro’s fees, but revoked that permission hours later without explanation.

In Thursday’s motion, Pollack argued the move interfered with Maduro’s right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution and required dismissal of the charges.

Pollack said he could not continue representing Maduro without funding from the Venezuelan government.

A spokesman for the Manhattan US Attorney’s office, which brought the charges, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

US special forces captured Maduro and his wife in a dramatic nighttime raid in Caracas on January 3, following months of pressure from US President Donald Trump’s administration on the socialist leader to step down.

Prosecutors say Maduro abused his power to help drug traffickers throughout his 13-year tenure.