By: Agence France Presse
A US federal judge rejected Wednesday a petition by Panamanian ex-strongman Manuel Noriega, and said his extradition to France to face money laundering charges can go forward.
Judge Paul Huck ruled there was no new evidence to suggest Noriega would be denied the benefits he has in the United States as a prisoner of war.
"There is a present commitment by France to give him not the level of POW but the benefits of a POW, and one of them is repatriation," Huck wrote.
Noriega, 73, in September completed a 17-year US prison term on drug charges. He was to be released and flown to France, but has remained in custody while appeals against his extradition were heard.
A French court sentenced Noriega to 10 years in prison in 1999 after his conviction in absentia on various charges, but authorities say he would be given a new trial on allegations that he deposited 3.15 million dollars in cocaine trafficking profits in French bank accounts in the 1980s.
Jon May, Noriega's attorney, insisted that: "France will not give Noriega treatment of prisoner of war and the general will not be given the benefits of the Geneva Conventions."
"One of these benefits is immediate repatriation," said another Noriega lawyer, Frank Rubino, arguing that the one-time strongman should be sent back to Panama City as he served his US prison sentence.
Also in September, another judge, William Hoeveler, ruled there was no reason to oppose Noriega's extradition to France but did not rule out the possibility the defense might file suit separately over what guarantees France may provide him.
Noriega, an army general, held sway in Panama from 1984 until he surrendered on January 3, 1990 to US troops who had invaded the country three weeks earlier.
A US Cold War ally and a one-time CIA informant whose involvement with drug trafficking eventually became an embarrassment for Washington, Noriega was flown on a military plane to Miami, where he was tried on charges of drug trafficking, money laundering and racketeering.
He was sentenced to 40 years but the sentence was later reduced.
Noriega's lawyers have sought to have him extradited not to France but instead to Panama, where he faces prosecution over the disappearances and murders of opposition members.
Panama has called for Noriega's repatriation, but did not take legal action to block the French extradition request.
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