Paris judge defers decision on whether to release Noriega before trial

Paris judge defers decision on Noriega release

PARIS — A Paris appeal court judge on Friday deferred a decision until May 28 on whether to release former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega before his trial on money laundering charges.

The court was hearing an appeal of a May 12 decision in which Noriega’s request to be released was rejected on the grounds that the risk he might flee was too high.

Noriega, 72, was extradited to France on April 27 by the U.S. to face charges he laundered about $3 million in drug proceeds by buying luxury Paris apartments. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. His trial starts June 28.

Noriega, wearing a dark suit and red tie, rose slowly with the help of two prison guards and took the stand under the watchful gaze of family members. He urged that he be “accorded the chance to defend himself.”

“I stand here before you as a former head of state. I am also a prisoner of war and by virtue of the Geneva Convention, I should be protected,” he said, speaking Spanish that was translated. Noriega blamed his incarceration on a “conspiracy concocted by the United States.”

France has not accorded him the prisoner of war status that he had in Miami, where he was declared a POW after his 1992 drug conviction by a Miami federal judge.

The prosecutor dismissed Noriega’s plea for prisoner of war status, while Noriega’s defense lawyers insisted that France had ratified the Geneva convention, and as a signatory had an obligation to respect it.

“In Miami, Mr. Noriega was recognized a POW and was able to stay comfortably in a low security facility housing”, his lawyer Antonin Levy said.

A second lawyer, Yves Leberquier, said “Mr. Noriega is not the dictator he is made out to be by the United States nor a drug trafficker. He is old and in poor health and does not pose a flight risk.”

In Miami, Noriega had separate quarters in prison, the right to wear his military uniform and insignia, access to a television and monitoring by international rights groups.