Panama will spare no efforts in seeking the extradition of its former president, Manuel Noriega, from France after he arrives in the European country to face money laundering charges from the United States, Foreign Minister Samuel Lewis Navarro said Tuesday.
Noriega, 73, is scheduled to be released early September from a U.S. prison where he has been held since 1992. He was captured and convicted after a 1989 U.S. military invasion of Panama designed in part to drive him from power because of his links to Colombian drug lords.
U.S. magistrate Judge William Turnoff approved the extradition of Noriega to France Tuesday, rejecting his claim that his status as a prisoner of war entitled him under Geneva Conventions rules to immediate repatriation to Panama after his release.
France wants Noriega to face charges of laundering more than 3 million U.S. dollars in drug money and he could face another 10 years in prison.
Meanwhile Panama, which first asked for Noriega's extradition in 1991, wants the former leader to face charges of murdering nine military officers during his 1983-1989 rule.
Noriega's attorneys vowed to continue fighting for his return home to Panama, where he would be likely to serve only house arrest because of his advanced age under Panamanian law.
"I can assure this court and everyone else: You haven't heard the end of this," Noriega's attorney Frank Rubino said at the hearing Tuesday.
Source: Xinhua
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