Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, one of the world's largest drug dealers, called for the annulment of his lawsuit in New York, because according to his lawyers, the extradition violates the treaty between Mexico and the United States. In a motion filed in a federal court in Brooklyn, lawyers Michelle Gelernt and Michael Schneider assert that the extradition was illegal and was made based on "false and misleading statements and omissions."
The lawyers also say in the document that the process should be dismissed because Mexico didn't know and never accepted "the conditions of cruel and inhuman isolation" to which "El Chapo" has been subjected since his arrival in New York.
According to Guzmán's lawyers, the drug lord is having auditory hallucinations and his health is getting worse. As reported by Mexican newspaper Zocalo, "El Chapo” is completely isolated with no natural light, and without notion of time. For the same reason, the defense asked Judge Brian Cogan back in March, that his client be transferred to a jail with other prisoners.
According to reports, Mexico decided to extradite "El Chapo," 60, to Texas or California, after his second escape from a Mexican prison. But they changed their mind and sent him to New York instead, where he is awaiting his trial in 2018.
Guzmán Loera has pleaded not guilty to the 17 counts of which he is accused by the U.S. justice, which include having run one of the largest drug empires in the Americas, and has complained several times for the mistreatment, claiming he can't sleep more than two consecutives hours and that even water is being denied.
Lawyers also doubt that the Mexican government has established that the accused is only tried for the specific charges for which he was extradited, and also seeks to prevent that the 14,000 million dollars, belonging to "El Chapo," are confiscated by the prosecution.
"El Chapo" since January 2017 has been locked in a 20-by-12-foot cell, 23 hours a day. Tentatively, the trial against him will begin on April 16, 2018. Before the trial, the court determined that the next hearing will be held on August 15 to review progress in the case.
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