NICOLAS Maduro bantered his way through his court appearence today where a judge set a June 2027 date for his narcoterrorism trial.

Venezuela’s former president and his wife Cilia Flores, who were captured by US Special Forces in a daring raid on his fortified Caracas compound in January, have been holed up in a Brooklyn jail ever since.

Sporting a beige uniform and a pair of glasses, he looked slimmed down – but in jovial spirits.

His hair was shaved tightly at the sides, making his face look even thinner.

As he was led into ​the packed Manhattan courtroom, the toppled leader cracked several jokes – telling his lawyer that he looked “very serious.”

He then waved to the public and even got a smile from his lawyer Barry Pollack as he cracked another gag.

Neither Maduro nor his wife spoke during the tense 15-minute hearing – the third one since their capture.

Both have pleaded not guilty to charges that include narcoterrorism conspiracy and possession of machine guns and destructive devices.

They face potential life prison sentences if a jury agrees that they were part of a conspiracy to ship thousands of tons of cocaine into the US.

Prosecutors argue Maduro colluded with Venezuelan law enforcement to help drug kingpins.

“I am not guilty,” the fallen dictator said in Spanish during his arraignment hearing in January.

“I am a decent man, the constitutional president of my country.”

The court heard that Maduro will try to claim “sovereign immunity”, likely because he was a head of state when he was seized in Venezuela.

His lawyer said that they expected to keep the June 1, 2027, trial date, that is unless there are issues with classified material.

Pollack further added that he expects to contest the legality of Maduro’s “military abduction” – something that the Trump administration has been defending, describing it as a “surgical law enforcement operation”.

Maduro, a socialist who had an antagonistic relationship with the US while leading Venezuela from 2013 until his capture, referred to ⁠himself as a “prisoner of war” during his January 5 appearance. 

He has long accused the US of seeking his ouster to gain greater control of the OPEC nation’s vast oil reserves.

Meanwhile, the US branded him a corrupt dictator whose mishandling of the economy led to an economic collapse, and accused him of rigging his reelection votes in 2018 and 2024.

It stopped recognizing him as Venezuela’s legitimate president in 2019.

In an advisory opinion ahead of the January raid, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel said it would be lawful for Donald Trump to order the raid because it served an important national interest and ‌did not rise to the level of a war that would require congressional authorization.

The next court date was set for November 17.

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