France may be next for Noriega

A judge approves the ex-dictator's exit to face money-laundering charges.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published August 29, 2007

MIAMI - Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega is a step closer to facing money-laundering charges in France after a federal judge approved his extradition Tuesday, less than two weeks before the end of his U.S. prison sentence for drug racketeering.

Attorneys for Noriega, 73, vowed to continue fighting for his return home to Panama, but they have now lost before two judges. Noriega is scheduled to be released Sept. 9 from a federal prison outside Miami, where he has been held since his 1992 conviction.

"I can assure this court and everyone else: You haven't heard the end of this," Noriega attorney Frank Rubino said Tuesday.

Noriega was captured after a 1989 U.S. military invasion of Panama designed in part to drive him from power because of his links to Colombian drug lords.

The extradition approval by U.S. Magistrate Judge William Turnoff came four days after a higher-ranking judge rejected Noriega's claim that his status as a prisoner of war entitled him under Geneva Conventions rules to immediate repatriation to Panama after his release.

France wants Noriega to face charges of laundering more than $3-million in drug proceeds through French banks, with some of the money used to buy luxury apartments in Paris. Noriega faces another 10 years in prison if convicted on those charges.

Noriega's lawyers said there would likely be an appeal. They also could try to persuade the State Department not to go through with the extradition, or even seek United Nations action based on the Geneva Conventions claims.

In Panama, where the government has also filed an extradition request, the legal victories for France were greeted with dismay. Noriega has been convicted in absentia of murder, embezzlement and corruption and sentenced to 60 years in Panama, but the law there would allow him to serve his time under house arrest because of his age.

The Bush administration has not explained why it supports extraditing Noriega to France rather than Panama.

[Last modified August 28, 2007, 23:19:38]