Giuliani seeks to frustrate Noriega court challenge

FORMER New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will attempt to frustrate the bid of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to make a killing of a different kind, from a law suit in the United States against the maker of the video game Call of Duty.

 Guiliani will seek the dismissal of a case launched from Noriega’s jail cell in Panama where he still faces trial for killings of local citizens during his time in power.
Guiliania joined the legal team opposing the lawsuit last month. He is expected to submit arguments in favor of the dismissal before a hearing scheduled for October 16.
Noriega sued Blizzard Activision Inc. in July for having included his image in the 2012 game Call of Duty: Black Ops II. Noriega did not authorize the use of his image in the game, but Activision says that their use is protected by the U.S. Constitution’s first amendment.
In the game there is a part in which users must catch Noriega. Activision claims that Noriega has one minor role in the game. “The emergence of Manuel Noriega is unimportant in Call of Duty and does not have attributes other than that of being a brutal dictator,” wrote Giuliani in a statement.
“If this case is successful it would end the genre of historical fiction. I could not be more excited at the prospect of returning to court to defend the manufacturers of Call of Duty against this convicted murderer who wants to make fun of the legal system and threaten our freedom of expression,” the statement said.
Historical figures such as President John F. Kennedy and former Cuban President Fidel Castro have appeared in other editions of the game. In an affidavit, Noriega said that he learned that he was a character in the game when his grandchildren played it and asked him about it. Noriega’s attorneys argue that the defense of the first amendment does not apply in this case because Activision copied the image of the ex-dictator without their consent and did not change the character.
Noriega was ousted in 1989 by an invasion of US troops and served a sentence of 17 years in prison in the United States for drug trafficking. He was later convicted of money laundering in France and that country repatriated him to Panama in December 2011. The former president, 80, is serving a sentence of 60 years in prison for murder, embezzlement and corruption.