Noriega's extradition to France stalled

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega's extradition to France was stayed Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler asked Noriega's attorneys to produce credible evidence to support their allegations that France would not treat Noriega as a prisoner of war and abide by the Geneva Conventions governing POWs.

Noriega, 69, is scheduled to be released Sunday from a Florida prison after serving 17½ years of his 40-year sentence. He has been convicted in absentia in France on charges he laundered drug money through French bank accounts.

Hoeveler asked the defense to produce the evidence by 9 a.m. ET Thursday.

Prosecutors also were told to provide by noon Thursday their confidential communications with France regarding the case. The court will not make the communications available to the public or to Noriega, the judge said.

Noriega was captured in January 1990, following a U.S. invasion of Panama in December 1989. His attorneys have argued that Hoeveler declared Noriega a prisoner of war, according to The Associated Press.

A federal judge last week approved his extradition to France after a ruling August 24 by Hoeveler that declared the court "never intended for the proclamation of defendant as a POW to shield him from all future prosecutions for serious crimes he is alleged to have committed."

Denis Simmoneau, deputy spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry, said in August that Noriega would be treated as a prisoner of war in France but that he would not officially be given that status.

"He will not benefit from a prisoner status as such," Simmoneau said last month. "He will certainly benefit from the same rights as a prisoner of war, but we will not give him the status of prisoner of war because, obviously, he is not a war prisoner. But he will benefit from the same conditions."

Frank Rubino, Noriega's attorney, filed the motion in U.S. District court to stay the extradition.

The motion said the stay was sought "because there is substantial reason to believe that the Republic of France, contrary to the representations of the United States, has no intention of applying the protection of the Geneva Convention, intending to instead treat General Noriega as a common criminal."

The defense's motion also alleged that, because Noriega's release date falls on a Sunday, the United States intended to release him Thursday night at midnight.

"No doubt the United States has determined that the best means of ending this controversy is to whisk the general away under the cover of darkness," the motion said.

The stay is necessary for Noriega to "vindicate his rights under the Geneva Convention," it said.

Alicia Valle, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Miami, said the government would respond to the motion "through a court filing."

The former dictator's attorneys had argued that Noriega should be returned to Panama after his release, in accordance with rules governing the treatment of prisoners of war.

Noriega was convicted in 1992 of racketeering for accepting bribes to allow drugs destined for the United States to be shipped through Panama.

He also faces possible prison time in Panama, where he is accused of kidnapping, extortion and the murder of political opponents. E-mail to a friend

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