Noriega Trials Begin in Paris

[I used the translator function to convert the article from Spanish to English. You get the idea]. This is from laprensa.com today

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Trial begins in Paris Manuel Antonio Noriega

AP / Jacques Brinon Manuel A. lawyers Noriega in France, Yves Leberquier (background) and Olivier Metzner (front).

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7:06 a.m. - PARIS, France. (EFE) .- The trial in Paris against the former Panamanian dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega, who has to answer washing the equivalent of 2.3 million euros ($ 2.8 million) from drug trafficking, began today amid great expectations media. 

Noriega, 76 years and quite physically diminished, she sits on the bench for the same acts for which has already been sentenced in absentia to ten years imprisonment by the French courts in 1999. 

The former strongman of Panama was then imprisoned in Florida, where he has spent 20 years behind bars since he was captured after the U.S. invaded Panama in the last days of 1989. 

This new process before the Correctional Tribunal of Paris, which will last until Wednesday, reflects the fact that Noriega France rejected the sentence imposed in absentia after he was extradited on 27 April. 

Since that date, has been detained in the prison of La Santé to the French capital, the rejected all demands for the release of his lawyers, who have continued to emphasize firstly that it should benefit from immunity because the facts before it criticize the committed when he was head of state. 

His lawyers, which include Olivier Metzner, one of the most respected criminal lawyers of France, had also unsuccessfully claimed that his status as prisoner of war would have resulted in conditions privileged arrest. 

Panama has become private prosecution in this new process to Noriega and will seek compensation to offset the damage but, above all, the country's image.