The American magistrate Alvin K. Hellerstein, responsible for the criminal proceedings against the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, has died this Wednesday at the age of 92.
The Southern District Court of New York has communicated that the death occurred of natural causes. This judge, appointed in 1998 by then President of the United States Bill Clinton, developed a long career in the federal judiciary, according to what the television network CBS reported.
Throughout his career, Hellerstein has handled numerous federal cases of significance, including those related to the attacks carried out by Al Qaeda on September 11, 2001. In recent months he was in charge of the proceedings against the Venezuelan president and the first lady for alleged repression and systematic torture, charges that are added to the accusations filed in 2020 for drug trafficking and crimes linked to weapons.
For now, the court has not reported which judge will take over this file nor the rest of the cases that Hellerstein handled, nor how this replacement could affect the procedural schedule of the case involving the Venezuelan leader.