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 News from Around the Americas | August 2007 
Noriega Appears Fated to Head to France
 Carmen Gentile - IPS
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| | Manuel Noriega after surrendering to U.S. authorities on Jan. 3, 1990. (U.S. Marshall Service) |
Miami, Florida - Former Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega is one step closer to facing money laundering charges in France following his lengthy and storied stay in a U.S. prison.
On Tuesday in a Miami court, Magistrate Judge William Turnoff ruled that the 73-year-old Noriega could indeed be extradited to France, where if convicted, he could serve another decade behind bars.
However, the final decision as to whether the general will face justice in France belongs to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who has final say on matters of extradition, according to international law experts.
The ex-Panamanian dictator, who was forcibly removed from power by an invading U.S. force, has already served 15 years in a federal corrections institution on drug trafficking charges. Adding another 10 could effectively be a life sentence for the aged Noriega, whose lawyers petitioned for his return to Panama.
With little time until his sentence expires on Sep. 9, Noriega's lawyers appear determined not to give up the fight just yet.
"I can assure this court and everyone else you haven't heard the end of this," defence attorney Frank Rubino said to Judge Turnoff.
Rubino told IPS that he would file an appeal sometime next week.
Rubino and Noriega co-counsel Jon May have argued that the general's extradition to France would be a direct violation of the Geneva Convention and accused federal prosecutors of violating the international treaty and "fundamentally altering the constitution."
"This court is the only venue where tyranny can stop," said May during a lengthy plea in front of Judge William Hoeveler, a senior district court judge who earlier this month ruled in favour of extraditing Noriega.
May criticised federal attorneys for refuting claims that Noriega is a prisoner of war and attempting to secure his extradition to France, which has petitioned for Noriega to face charges he allegedly spent some 3.15 million dollars on high-priced real estate in Paris using money stolen from Panamanian coffers.
Noriega's defence alleges that the extradition request by France was trumped up by U.S., French and Panamanian officials to prevent their client from being returned to Panama. France tried Noriega in absentia in 1999 on money-laundering charges.
"They [federal prosecutors] are all good people, but they work for people who are not," said May pointing at the U.S. district attorneys.
Noriega was captured by U.S. forces during the 1989 military invasion ordered by former President George H. W. Bush, who condemned the general's links to drug trafficking.
Later it was discovered that he had cooperated with the Central Intelligence Agency for many years, acting as a point man on Latin American issues for the United States and serving a mediator of sorts between Washington and Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
In 1992, Noriega was convicted of colluding with the Colombian Medellin drug cartel by allowing shipments of cocaine to transit through Panama on their way to the United States.
His status as a former world leader and subsequent removal from power by U.S. forces make him a prisoner of war (POW), his lawyer contend, arguing that France would not grant him protections under the Geneva Convention were he convicted there.
Some legal experts contend that both judges' rulings were in fact in accordance with Geneva Convention, which does not protect POW's from facing criminal charges in other countries.
"I think that the decision by the judges were solid based on the interpretation of the obligations of the Geneva Convention," said Claudio Grossman, dean at the American University Law School in Washington, noting that the convention does not explicitly state that a POW must return to the country of origin.
"Even though he [Noriega] was granted POW status [when he was convicted] he's not shielded" from extradition now, agreed Diego Rodriguez-Pinzon, an international and human rights law professor at the University of Miami Law School.
Both agree that Noriega's counsel will have an extremely difficult time convincing any U.S. court that the general shouldn't be sent to France. For now, it appears Noriega's next chapter may already have been written. |
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