Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was jailed for seven years in France today after being convicted of laundering drug money.
Noriega has already spent 20 years in US custody for drug trafficking and was extradited to France in April to stand trial on charges there.
A French prosecutor said millions of dollars that passed through Noriega’s French bank accounts during the late 1980s were kickbacks from the powerful Medellin cocaine cartel.
Defence lawyers said the charges were part of a global political plot against Noriega. In court, Noriega cast himself as a foe of drug traffickers.
During his rule, Panama became a major distribution platform for cocaine from Colombian drug cartels, with multi-million dollar kickbacks going directly to the then-dictator.
He arrived in Paris in late April after being extradited from the United States where he had been in prison after being convicted in 1992 of drug trafficking, money laundering and racketeering.
Agencies
