By John Irish
PARIS (Reuters) - Lawyers for former Panamanian dictator and convicted drug smuggler Manuel Noriega, who was extradited to France on Tuesday, said they would fight for his immediate release, citing immunity as a former head of state.
Noriega, 76, a tough slum kid who muscled his way to the top of the military before he was overthrown in a U.S. invasion in 1989, was flown to Paris after being taken from a cell in Miami, where he had completed a 17-year sentence for drug smuggling.
The one-time, self-declared "Maximum Leader" of Panama had been convicted of taking millions of dollars in bribes to help the Medellin cartel smuggle cocaine into the United States.
A former CIA informant, Noriega was convicted in absentia in France of laundering cocaine profits through French banks and using the money to buy three luxury apartments here.
Noriega, who insisted he was innocent and had helped U.S. intelligence and anti-drug efforts, was seen briefly at Miami airport, stepping out of an SUV and shuffling toward the plane.
The former general, known for his burly figure and pockmarked face that earned him the nickname of "Pineapple Face," was whisked out of Charles de Gaulle airport on arrival and to the Justice Court, where he was placed under arrest.
"Like you, I had photos in mind from 20 years ago, but he is old and sick...he had a stroke about four years ago and it has left him a little handicapped on the right hand side," Yves Leberquier, one of Noriega's French lawyers said.
Noriega, who could face a maximum 10 year sentence, can seek a new trial in France, but his lawyers said they would demand that the case be dropped and their client freed.
They will argue that as a classified prisoner of war and former head of state he must be sent back to Panama and that French courts have no jurisdiction to try him.
"We will do everything to show that his place is not in France that this man must return to his country, which is what Panama requests," Oliver Metzner, another of his lawyers said.
The custodian court will rule on Tuesday whether Noreiga will be put in prison before a May 12 hearing.
French justice ministry spokesman, Guillaume Didier told local television Noriega could face trial within two months.
Noriega was once an ally of the United States and was trained at the U.S. Army's School of the Americas before they fell out and he became one of Washington's most vilified foes at a time when Central America was in turmoil.
After years of protests in Panama that he ruthlessly crushed, U.S. troops invaded in December 1989 in the largest U.S. military intervention at the time since the Vietnam War.
He surrendered to the troops in January 1990 after holing up in the Vatican Embassy, unable to withstand an assault of loud rock music that Americans blasted at the mission night and day.
Noriega finished his U.S. sentence for drug trafficking two years ago but had remained in a Florida prison while fighting extradition to France.
He challenged his extradition in the U.S. Supreme Court but it upheld a lower court ruling that the U.S. government could legally send him to France without violating his rights as a prisoner of war under the Geneva Conventions.
BALES OF DRUG CASH
With its 100-bank financial center, Panama was used to launder bales of drug cash through banks and as a center for the processing and transshipment of cocaine. Multi-million dollar kickbacks went directly to Noriega.
In February 1988, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had Noriega indicted on federal drugs charges relating to cocaine trafficking and money laundering. The U.S. Congress imposed economic sanctions to press him to leave power.
U.S. President George Bush ordered the invasion, dubbed "Operation Just Cause" with the aim of capturing Noriega.
For 10 days, he took refuge in the Vatican mission. A diplomatic battle of wills between Washington and the Vatican ensued while angry Panamanians sought his blood before he eventually surrendered.
The U.S. government at the time estimated that 300 Panamanians were killed in the invasion, although Panamanian human rights groups put the number much higher.
Additional reporting by Sophie Taylor and Laure Bretton; editing by Peter Millership and Angus MacSwan
Reuters Canada
