PANAMA FORMALLY WANTS NORIEGA

Panama Formally requests Manuel Antonio Noriega's Extradition

FROM A
DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW by Monte Friesner

25 September 2010

The Government of the Republic of Panama has formally requested the extradition of former General Manuel Antonio Noriega, who is currently serving a seven year sentence in France for money laundering. Manuel Antonio Noriega was convicted by a French court of using $3,000,000.00 USD obtained from Colombian narcotics cartels to purchase Paris apartments.

The request was received by French Foreign Minister Francois Fillon and documents have been received in France, in support of the Panamanian petition; there was reportedly no official governmental request previously received through proper channels. 

Manuel Antonio Noriega faces some massive & serious criminal charges in The Republic of Panama:

In 1985, he was convicted of the murder of Hugo Spadafora, who was allegedly killed on his direct orders. The trial, which was conducted in absentia, resulted in a 20-year sentence for Noriega.

• Not specifically listed in the extradition request is the guilty verdict entered against him in a case where it is claimed that he personally dispatched Major Moises Giroldi Vera, one of the plotters in an unsuccessful coup attempt brought against Chavez in 1989, just three months before American military forces unseated Noriega through Operation Just Cause.
• There are unconfirmed reports which indicate that the coup failed because the United States forces had failed to block critical surface routes, which were then used by forces loyal to Noriega, to topple the coup.
• Noriega also was reportedly sentenced to 14 years in prison for his role in the Albrook Massacre, the execution of nine officers who participated in the failed coup in 1989.

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WANTED SA will monitor this case, and report back to its readers, as soon as a decision has been made public.

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