Judge: Noriega can be extradited to France

by Jordan Yerman | August 25, 2007 at 08:30 am

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Manuel Noriega (the real Noriega, as opposed to Noriega) is on track for extradition to France as part of a political/legal saga that's been going on for nearly twenty years.

Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega can be extradited to France to serve a 10-year prison sentence for money laundering charges, a federal judge in Miami ruled Friday.

Attorneys for Noriega had argued that his status as a prisoner of war meant he should be sent back to Panama. Noriega also faces possible prison time in the deaths of political opponents there.

"This Court never intended for the proclamation of defendant as a POW to shield him from all future prosecutions for serious crimes he is alleged to have committed," Senior U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler wrote in a 12-page opinion.

"It appears that the extradition proceedings should proceed uninterrupted," Hoeveler wrote.

Hoeveler also noted that Noriega "has not always sought repatriation," and had, at one time, asked to be allowed to go to a third country.

Noriega was captured after the 1989 United States military invasion of Panama. He was convicted in 1992 of racketeering for accepting bribes to allow drugs to be shipped through Panama destined for the United States.

Noriega was scheduled to be released from a federal prison in Miami, Florida, on September 9. He has served 17½ years of an original 40-year sentence. The sentence was reduced to 30 years, and further shortened for good behavior.

France wanted Noriega extradited to serve a sentence for laundering drug money through French bank accounts. He was convicted in absentia in France in 1999.