**Panamanian ex-leader Manuel Noriega will fight charges brought against him in France following his extradition from the US, his lawyer says.**Noriega will argue French courts do not have jurisdiction to try him due to his immunity from prosecution and because the statute of limitations has expired.
He was convicted in France in his absence in 1999 for money laundering but is likely to face a new trial.
He spent more than 20 years in jail in the US on drugs charges.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday signed a “surrender warrant” and Noriega was taken to Miami airport and handed to French prison officials on an Air France plane.
‘Incompetent’
Noriega’s plane arrived in Paris shortly before 0800 local time (0600 GMT) but his journey from the airport to central Paris was reportedly delayed by protesting farmers blocking the road with tractors.
Noriega, who is in his mid-70s, is scheduled to appear before prosecutors in Paris to be notified of the arrest warrant against him.
A judge will then decide whether to place him under temporary detention until his case is referred to a criminal court.
A spokesman for the French justice ministry, Guillaume Didier, said that Noriega could go on trial within two months.
However Noriega’s lawyer in France, Yves Leberquier, signalled a tough legal battle ahead.
He said he would challenge French jurisdiction on the grounds of his client’s immunity from prosecution as a former head of state and because the statute of limitations had expired.
Mr Leberquier also said there were question marks about Noriega’s status as a prisoner of war.
A Miami judge declared Noriega a POW after the 1992 drugs sentencing, allowing him prison privileges that included the ability to wear his military uniform and insignia.
Mr Leberquier said the French system could not accommodate such a status.
He told Associated Press news agency: "We’re not here to eventually make a moral judgment, we’ve got legal rules that have to be applied and respected.
“For justice to be served, the judiciary must acknowledge it is incompetent to put him on trial.”
Noriega’s original French sentence of 10 years was for laundering $3m in drug trafficking proceeds by buying luxury apartments in Paris.
However, part of the extradition process with the US included an agreement Noriega would be given a new trial.
Noriega had wanted to be sent back to Panama after finishing his 17-year jail sentence in 2007.
But in February the US Supreme Court rejected his final appeal against extradition to France.
Panama’s government said it respected the “sovereign decision” but insisted it would seek his return to serve outstanding prison sentences there.
Sandra Noriega, one of Noriega’s three daughters, said the extradition was “a violation of his rights as a citizen and a failing by the [Panamanian] government, which is supposed to protect its citizens”.
Noriega’s lawyer in Miami, Frank Rubino, said he had not been notified of the extradition and had only learned of it from the media.
“Usually the government… does things in a more professional manner and respects common courtesy and we’re shocked that they didn’t,” he said.
“I’m surprised that they didn’t put a black hood over his head and drag him out in the middle of the night.”
Mr Rubino said Panama was “terrified” that Noriega would return “even though all he would do is sit on his porch and play with his grandchildren. He knows where the skeletons are buried”.
Invasion
Noriega was Panama’s military intelligence chief for several years before becoming commander of the powerful National Guard in 1982 and then de facto ruler of the country.
He had been recruited by the CIA in the late 1960s and was supported by the US until 1987. But in 1988 he was indicted in the US for drug trafficking.
After a disputed parliamentary election the following year, Noriega declared a “state of war”.
A tense stand-off followed between US forces stationed in the Panama Canal zone and Panamanian troops.
US President George H W Bush launched an invasion - ostensibly because a US marine had been killed in Panama City - although the operation had long been planned.
Noriega initially took refuge in the Vatican embassy, where US troops bombarded him for days with deafening pop and heavy metal music.
He eventually surrendered on 3 January 1990 and was taken to Miami for trial. In 1992, he was convicted of drug trafficking, money laundering and racketeering.
He was handed a 40-year prison sentence, later reduced to 30 years, and then 17 years for good behaviour.This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
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