U.S. Judge Approves Extradition Of Noriega to France
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MIAMI — A former Panamanian dictator, Manuel Noriega, is a step closer to facing money-laundering charges in France after a federal judge approved his extradition yesterday, less than two weeks before the end of his American prison sentence for drug racketeering.
Attorneys for the 73-year-old Noriega vowed to continue fighting for his return home to Panama, but they have now lost before two judges. Noriega is scheduled to be released September 9 from a federal prison outside Miami where he has been held since his 1992 conviction.
“I can assure this court and everyone else: You haven’t heard the end of this,” Noriega attorney Frank Rubino said yesterday at a hearing.
Noriega was captured after a 1989 American military invasion of Panama designed in part to drive him from power because of his links to Colombian drug lords. The extradition approval by U.S. Magistrate Judge William Turnoff came four days after a higher-ranking judge rejected Noriega’s claim that his status as a prisoner of war entitled him under Geneva Conventions rules to immediate repatriation to Panama after his release.
