Noriega, on trial in Panama, sentenced to 7 years in French jail

Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega has been sentenced by a French court to seven years in jail for money laundering in France during the 1980s. 

Noriega was extradited to France in April after serving 20 years in a U.S. prison for drug trafficking.

 French prosecutors said that millions of dollars passing through Noriega’s French bank accounts in the late 1980s were actually paid commissions on apowerful drug cartel in Medellin.

Defense lawyers say the French charges were part of a global political conspiracy against Noriega. who was an enemy of drug traffickers.

On Wednesday of last week, prosecutor Michel Maes asked the court to sentence Noriega to 10 years in prison and to confiscated $2.5 million that have been frozen in accounts.

Noriega had argued that his financial advisor was the one who was responsible for the movement of funds and he did notknow the details of the transactions.

The former general said he was 76 years old and suffered from poor health, “so I could die in prison.”

Noriega was considered for years a good collaborator of the CIA before moving to drug trafficking and being involved in the murder of a political opponent.

In a statement last week, Noriega insisted that he was the victim of a conspiracy orchestrated by the United States”.

In a monologue that lasted over an hour, Noriega said he had had a long and friendly relationship with the U.S. including the CIA and blamed his legal problems on his feud with the Americans.

A trial is under way in Panama in a case where Noriega is accused of murdering a leftist opponent.

 {jathumbnail off}