No moves by Panama on Noriega extradition

Two days after the Foreign Ministry publicly communicated its intention to request extradition from France of former dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega, neither the judiciary nor the prosecution has taken any formal steps to initiate the process, says La Prensa.
The Foreign Ministry is not competent to make such a request on their own. According to the Judicial Code, complaints can only be made at the request of a judge who had issued an order for trial or sentence, or a prosecutor to take charge of the investigation of a case. The Foreign Ministry is simply the channel through which such applications are made.

On April 26 the former general arrived Paris to face a 10 years in prison sentence for laundering $ 3.1 million of the Medellin cartel. That same day, the Foreign Ministry announced it would ask the judiciary and the Public Ministry to take action on an extradition request to the French Government.

However, sources at both institutions told La Prensa that they will wait and see what happens on May 13 at the Paris Court of Corrections. That day, Noriega will attend a hearing which will decide whether he stays in prison .
Vice President and Foreign Minister, Juan Carlos Varela, said the request is viable, even though Panama has no formal extradition treaty with France.