Toppled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro pleaded not guilty on Monday to narcotics charges after President Donald Trump’s stunning capture of him rattled world leaders and left officials in Caracas scrambling to regroup.

“I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I am still president of my country,” Maduro, 63, said through an interpreter, before being cut off by US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan federal court.

Maduro’s wife Cilia Flores also pleaded not guilty. The next court date was set for March 17.

Dozens of protesters, both pro- and anti-Maduro, gathered outside the courthouse before the half-hour hearing.

Inside, as he stood shackled at the ankles and wearing orange and beige prison garb, Maduro declared he had been “kidnapped” and remained president of Venezuela. He listened to an interpreter through headphones as Hellerstein summarized the charges.

Maduro is accused of overseeing a cocaine-trafficking network with international drug cartels and faces four criminal counts: narco-terrorism, cocaine importation conspiracy and possession of machine guns and destructive devices.

Maduro has long denied the allegations, saying they were a mask for imperialist designs on Venezuela’s rich oil reserves.

Maduro’s defense lawyer Barry Pollack said he anticipated voluminous and complex litigation over what he called his client’s “military abduction.