Panama to France: Extradite Ex-Dictator
Noriega
PANAMA (AP)- Panama requested Friday that
France extradite ex-dictator Manuel Noriega,
bringing hope to those who have demanded for
two decades that he face justice at home for
alleged tortures and killings of their
relatives.
Authorities in France, where Noriega faces
money-laundering charges, are reviewing the
request, said Vladimir Franco, judicial
affairs chief with Panama's Exterior
Relations Ministry.
Noriega has already been sentenced to 60
years in prison in Panama after he was
convicted in absentia of embezzlement,
corruption and murdering opponents during
his eight-year rule.
He also faces trial with seven others
accused of killing a government opponent,
whose body was found 10 years ago. The trial
is scheduled to start July 7 in Panama City.
An extradition would provide closure, said
Alberto Almanza, who led a commission
created to investigate crimes committed
under military dictatorships from 1968 to
1989.
"This is what is best for our country, for
the soul of our country," he said. "We have
to see him here in Panama, humble,
incarcerated either by prison or house
arrest."
Noriega was sent to France in late April to
face money-laundering charges after serving
a 20-year sentence in the U.S. for drug
racketeering and money laundering. His
prisoner of war status in the U.S. allowed
him to live in a private suite in a prison
near Miami that featured a TV and exercise
equipment.
The U.S. planned to release him in 2007 on
good behavior after a judge reduced his
40-year sentence, but he was held pending
extradition. Noriega could face another 10
years in prison in France if found guilty on
charges that he laundered $7 million in drug
profits.
The former strongman seized power in 1981
after dictator Gen. Omar Torrijos died in an
unexplained plane crash. Noriega was
detained when U.S. forces invaded Panama in
1989, months after he abruptly annulled
elections that he appeared to be losing.
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