92-year-old US judge handling Maduro case dies

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Alvin Hellerstein, the United States (US) judge overseeing the case against deposed Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, has died aged 92, an official said Wednesday.

As one of the oldest US federal judges, questions had been raised about whether he was the right justice to preside over what could be a prolonged trial for Maduro on drug trafficking charges.

Hellerstein's lengthy career included overseeing the civil cases arising from Al-Qaeda's September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, often rejecting deals he saw as unfair to complainants.

His death was confirmed by the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, where he presided. A court filing showed the case has been reassigned to Analisa Torres, born in 1959.

Hellerstein also tangled with Donald Trump, rejecting a request by the US president to have his New York hush money case moved to federal court.

Last year, he blocked the Trump administration from deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members without a court hearing.

In a noteworthy 2015 ruling, Hellerstein ordered the US government to release a trove of photos depicting abuse of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He also presided over a trial last year in which a jury found French banking giant BNP Paribas's work in Sudan had helped prop up the regime of former ruler Omar al-Bashir, awarding $20.75 million in damages to three plaintiffs from Sudan.

Hellerstein handled the sprawling drug trafficking case linked to Maduro for over a decade, which has already seen the conviction of Venezuela's former intelligence chief, Hugo Armando Carvajal.

Maduro was seized by US forces in January in a military raid on his compound in Venezuela.

A graduate of Columbia University Law School, Hellerstein served as a lawyer in the US Army from 1957 to 1960 before entering private practice.

He was nominated by then-President Bill Clinton in 1998 to be a district court judge for the Southern District of New York.