French Court Sentences Noriega to 7 Years in Prison
VOA News 07 July 2010
A Paris court has sentenced former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to seven years in prison for laundering millions of dollars in drug money. Noriega was convicted of the charges on Wednesday.
The court also ordered the seizure of about $2.9 million frozen in Noriega's French bank accounts. French prosecutors had been calling for the maximum jail sentence of 10 years for Noriega, who has already served 20 years in a U.S. prison for drug trafficking.
In France, the 76-year-old ex-general was accused of laundering illicit cocaine profits in the 1980s through two French banks, and then using the proceeds to buy luxury apartments in Paris.
Noriega denied the charges, testifying that they were part of an "imaginary" banking scheme concocted by the United States. He said the funds came from his legitimate businesses and from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, which he, at one time, assisted in monitoring Colombian drug trafficking.
France convicted Noriega in absentia on the money laundering charges in 1999, but he was entitled to a new trial under French law after being extradited from the United States. Noriega's lawyers had pushed for an acquittal, arguing that a long jail term could amount to a life sentence for the ailing ex-general. Noriega suffers from high blood pressure and partial paralysis caused by a stroke.
Noriega ruled Panama from 1981 to 1989, He was arrested following the December 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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