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Federal judge lifts Noriega extradition stay

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Wednesday lifted the stay blocking the extradition of former Panamanian military leader Manuel Noriega to France, where he is wanted on money laundering charges. This latest order comes two days after the US Supreme Court declined to reconsider Noriega's petition to stop the extradition process. His lawyers filed the petition last month after the Supreme Court denied certiorari on the case in January. Noriega, who has been declared a prisoner of war, sought to enforce a provision of the Geneva Convention that requires repatriation at the end of confinement. Noriega has been fighting extradition since 2007. He is wanted in France on charges of money laundering through French banks. Noriega and his wife were sentenced in absentia to 10 years in jail in 1999, but France has agreed to hold a new trial if he is extradited.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on March 25, 2010 (boomark / email).