preCharge News BUSINESS — Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro appeared in a New York court on Monday afternoon and pleaded not guilty to drug-trafficking charges two days after their dramatic capture by U.S. forces in their home country, according to media reports.

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who is also charged in the case, have been held since they were taken from Venezuela after a U.S. strike on the country at the orders of U.S. President Donald Trump. Flores also pleaded not guilty, according to reports.

“I’m innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the president of my country,” Maduro told Judge Alvin Hellerstein during his appearance Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, according to the Associated Press.

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Associated Press, CNBC News, Fox News, and preCharge News contributed to this report.