What charges does Manuel Noriega face now that the US extradites him to France?”
The former Panamanian leader, Manuel Noriega, has arrived in France after being extradited from the US, where he has served more than 20 years in jail. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier signed a “surrender warrant” after all judicial challenges ended. Noriega was convicted in France in his absence in 1999 for laundering money but is likely to face a new trial. Noriega is now expected to go before prosecutors in Paris to be notified of the arrest warrant against him. His French lawyer said he would argue that French courts did not have the jurisdiction to try his client. Detention ruling Noriega had wanted to be sent back to Panama after finishing his 17-year jail sentence in 2007. But in February the US Supreme Court rejected his final appeal against extradition to France. ANALYSIS BBC’s Steve Kingstone Steve Kingstone, BBC News, Washington Manuel Noriega had been in US custody since 1990, after the US military invaded Panama during the administration of the first President
Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega arrived in France on Tuesday to face money laundering charges after being extradited from the United States. A new legal battle will now begin for the former strongman, who was ousted in a U.S. invasion in 1989 and went on to spend years in a prison outside Miami for drug racketeering. Noriega arrived in Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport Tuesday morning, according to a judicial official who was not authorized to be named. He came on a direct flight from Miami. Noriega will face a prosecutor to hear the French charges, and then see a judge in Paris who will determine whether he should be jailed pending an eventual trial, said Noriega’s lawyer Yves Leberquier. Justice Ministry spokesman Guillaume Didier said Noriega could go on trial within two months. On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton signed a so-called surrender warrant for Noriega after a federal judge in Miami lifted a stay blocking the extradition last month. French au
