In a packed Lower Manhattan federal courtroom with dark wood-paneled walls, Alvin Hellerstein’s voice cut through the silence, as the senior judge addressed the tall man in orange prison garb standing before him.

“Are you Nicolás Maduro?” asked the 92-year-old judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

“I am the president of the Republic of Venezuela,” Maduro responded. “I am here kidnapped. I was captured at my home in Caracas.”