France Wants 10
Years Prison for
Panama's Noriega
PARIS - A Paris
prosecutor said
there is enough
evidence to
sentence former
Panamanian
general Manuel
Antonio Noriega
to 10 years in
prison on
charges of money
laundering in
France.
According to the
closing argument
of prosecutor
Michel Maes in
the Correctional
Court here,
Noriega, who has
already served
17 years' prison
time in Miami
laundered 2.3
million euros
for the Medellin
drug cartel.
Mae said the
former
Panamanian
strongman
received large
sums of money
from "traffic
closely related
to the Medellin
cartel in
Colombia."
Along with the
request for 10
years in prison,
the prosecutor
demanded a fine
equal to the
amount of money
laundered, 2.3
million euros.
Noriega was
convicted in
France in
absentia in 1999
by the same
court; the
United States
allowed his
extradition to
this European
country last
April 27 to face
charges.
While the
sentence will
not be known
until autumn,
Panamanian
authorities
asked France
three weeks ago
to extradite
Noriega so that
he can serve 20
years' prison
for the 1985
disappearance of
opponent Hugo
Spadafora.
In self-defense,
Noriega
reiterated here
that the money
deposited in
France came from
his private
fortune and from
the Central
Intelligence
Agency (CIA),
for which he was
a spy in the
1970s.
His top lawyer,
Olivier Metzner,
will insist on
the prisoner of
war status
granted to
Noriega by the
United States,
his immunity as
a former head of
state, and his
health. |
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