U.S. sentence served, Noriega fights extradition

On the CIA payroll
It didn't come to light until well after the invasion that Noriega had long been on the CIA payroll as a key asset, including acting as a back channel to the communist government of Cuba's Fidel Castro. One Air Force colonel testified that Noriega was "the best source of information the United States had in Latin America."

Noriega was convicted of eight counts in April 1992 and got a 40-year prison sentence. Later that year, on the eve of his transfer to a maximum-security prison, Noriega's lawyers persuaded U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler to declare him a POW who should be accorded full protection under the Geneva Conventions. It was the first ruling of its kind in U.S. history, and set the stage for the court battle now stretching into 2009.

Hoeveler reduced Noriega's sentence to 30 years in 1999, and with time off for good behavior, the inmate was set for release Sept. 9, 2007. Then the French extradition request surfaced.

France wants to try Noriega on charges of laundering $25 million in cocaine profits through three major French banks and using drug cash to invest in three posh Paris apartments.

Panama has its own extradition request pending with the U.S., and President Martin Torrijos has said his country will file a similar request with France if Noriega is sent there.

Noriega was convicted in absentia in Panama of murder, embezzlement and corruption and sentenced to 60 years in prison, though that could be served under house arrest.

To the U.S., the case is simple: The Geneva Conventions do not prevent a country from honoring its extradition treaty with another country. The State Department has received diplomatic assurances from France that it will continue to treat Noriega as a POW, even if it does not formally declare him such.

Secretary of state has final decision
The final decision on Noriega's extradition rests with the U.S. secretary of state. President George W. Bush's administration made it clear that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would sign the proper documents quickly if Noriega lost in the courts.

But with Bush's term nearly over, the decision on what happens to the man his father invaded a country to capture is out of the president's hands. The three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hearing arguments next week is unlikely to rule for several months, and additional appeals remain, up to and including the U.S. Supreme Court.

Noriega's lawyers insist the only way he can stand trial in France is if he is first returned to Panama, then extradited. They note that the Geneva Conventions say a POW must be repatriated when hostilities have ended or the prisoner has completed a criminal sentence.

Rubino, Noriega's attorney, suggested Panama would prefer that the general never come back.

"We think candidly they are very fearful of his return for political reasons," Rubino said. "They believe he does have a power base there."

Noriega could not return to power through legitimate means, not anymore, University of Panama sociologist Raul Leis said. Noriega's main im"pact might be the secrets he could reveal about current political figures from his days working with the CIA, Leis said.

"His presence could create concern because of what he could say against former collaborators and opponents," Leis said in Spanish. "Even though there's a small sector that yearns for the Noriega era," he said, that's not how most of the country feels today.

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