Dictator extradited to France to face money-laundering trial
A new legal battle will now begin for the 76-year-old, who was removed from office in a US invasion in 1989 and went on to spend two decades behind bars near Miami for drug racketeering.
Noriega landed at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport on a direct flight from Miami. He will face a prosecutor to hear the French charges next Monday, and then see a judge in Paris who will determine whether he should be jailed pending an eventual trial, one of his defence lawyers said.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has a surrender warrant for Noriega after a federal judge in Miami lifted a stay blocking the extradition last month.
French authorities claim Noriega laundered $3 million (€2.26bn) in drug money by purchasing luxury apartments in Paris. Noriega was convicted in his absence, but France agreed to give him a new trial if he was extradited.
His lawyer said he would ask the prosecutor to release Noriega immediately, arguing it was illegal to try a former head of state who should have immunity from prosecution.
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