Noriega fights extradition in familiar Miami court

MIAMI (Reuters) - Former Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega appeared on Thursday in the same Miami courtroom where he was convicted on drug charges in 1992, this time to fight extradition to France after his upcoming release from a Florida prison.

It was Noriega's first public appearance in more than a decade, his attorneys said, and he appeared paunchy and somewhat frail, sporting a thinning head of jet black hair as he walked haltingly into the federal courtroom in a black jacket.

Using earphones to monitor a Spanish-language translation of the hearing, he gave his age as 72 and responded with a terse "Si" when asked by Magistrate Judge William Turnoff if he understood he faced extradition proceedings.

The hearing, which lasted about 25 minutes, was largely procedural and focused on courtroom schedules. Noriega, who once defied Washington while running Panama as his personal fiefdom, barely had a chance to speak.

Still, lead defense attorney Frank Rubino said the scene in the ornate central courtroom, in a Miami landmark known as the old Post Office building, was eerily familiar to some as it evoked memories of one of the city's most celebrated legal cases.

It was 15 years ago this month that Noriega was sentenced for the U.S. drug trafficking, racketeering and conspiracy charges that prompted then-President George H. W. Bush to invade Panama in December 1989.

SAME PEOPLE

A lot of the same people, including U.S. marshals who were at the trial in 1992, were in the courtroom again on Thursday, Rubino told reporters.

Although Turnoff set another hearing for August 28, when France's extradition request for Noriega could move forward, he gave time for Noriega's defense to pursue separate claims with U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler, who presided over the ex-dictator's 1992 trial.

Hoeveler has set a hearing for August 10, when he will hear claims his designation of Noriega as a "prisoner of war" in 1992 entitles Noriega to repatriation to Panama rather than extradition to France or any other country.

Noriega is due to be released from U.S. custody on September 9. But rather than return him to Panama, which has had an extradition request for him since January 1991, Washington is backing France's bid to jail him for 10 years on various money-laundering charges.

Noriega is wanted in Panama for murder and human rights violations, including the 1985 beheading of Hugo Spadafora, an outspoken opponent. But Rubino says Noriega believes he can clear his name in his homeland if given the right to a fair trial.

"He's strong, he's ready. It's a fight ahead," said Rubino, when asked about the chances of reversing the multiple convictions that Panama has already handed Noriega in absentia.

Panamanian President Martin Torrijos has denied accusations he agreed to let Noriega be sent to France as part of a secret deal with the U.S. and French governments to avoid political problems at home.

But political analysts say the populist former military leader still enjoys some support among the country's overwhelming majority of poor, and Rubino has repeatedly accused Panama of failing to pursue its extradition request.

Panamanian officials prefer sending Noriega to France, where he could die of old age while completing a 10-year prison sentence, to sending him home where he potentially could stage a political comeback, Rubino said.

"They (the Panamanians) are scared to death that he will come back," Rubino told reporters.