Six years after France first sought the extradition of former Panamanian dictator, Manuel Noriega, 76, he arrived in France on Thursday where he is facing charges of laundering drug money.
Noriega, who ruled Panama between 1981 and 1989, had served a 20-year prison term in the United States for drug trafficking. Now, weak and partially paralyzed due to a stroke, he went from a jail in Florida to one in Paris.
In France, Noriega is facing 10 years in jail for money laundering. A Paris court already convicted him in 1999, in abstentia, for laundering $3 million in drug money but he will be retried in a trial expected to start in two months.
Lawyers of the former dictator claim that he should be granted the status of prisoner of war by France, which would provide him with special privileges and make it impossible for France to prosecute him. Noriega was granted the status of a prisoner of war in the United States, after he was arrested when U.S. troops invaded Panama to oust him.
Noriega, previously served as a CIA agent and was considered one of Washington’s closest allies in South America during the Cold War. But his involvement in allowing Panama to serve as a gateway for Colombian drugs to get into the United States led to his indictment in 1988.
Attempts for years by Noriega to fight his extradition to France came to an end when Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton signed a surrender warrant. Noriega’s lawyers say that he had wanted to go back to Panama after serving his jail term in the United States.
However, in Panama, Noriega has also been convicted in absentia for ordering the killing of political opponents.
Noriega, who ruled Panama between 1981 and 1989, had served a 20-year prison term in the United States for drug trafficking. Now, weak and partially paralyzed due to a stroke, he went from a jail in Florida to one in Paris.
In France, Noriega is facing 10 years in jail for money laundering. A Paris court already convicted him in 1999, in abstentia, for laundering $3 million in drug money but he will be retried in a trial expected to start in two months.
Lawyers of the former dictator claim that he should be granted the status of prisoner of war by France, which would provide him with special privileges and make it impossible for France to prosecute him. Noriega was granted the status of a prisoner of war in the United States, after he was arrested when U.S. troops invaded Panama to oust him.
Noriega, previously served as a CIA agent and was considered one of Washington’s closest allies in South America during the Cold War. But his involvement in allowing Panama to serve as a gateway for Colombian drugs to get into the United States led to his indictment in 1988.
Attempts for years by Noriega to fight his extradition to France came to an end when Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton signed a surrender warrant. Noriega’s lawyers say that he had wanted to go back to Panama after serving his jail term in the United States.
However, in Panama, Noriega has also been convicted in absentia for ordering the killing of political opponents.
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