Noriega given 7-year French prison term

A French court sentenced former Panama dictator Manuel Noriega to a seven-year prison term on Wednesday, but his lawyer said he could be free again in year.

Noriega was convicted of laundering drug money.

Prosecutors alleged Noriega funnelled millions of dollars in the late 1980s through his French bank accounts. The money was said to have come in the form of kickbacks from a Colombian cocaine cartel.

Noriega tried to paint himself in court as a foe of drug trafficking, and his attorneys attempted to say the charges were part of a political plot.

In addition to the prison sentence, the three-judge panel on the case also ordered the seizure of about $3 million frozen in Noriega's accounts.

Noriega, who was ousted in a U.S. invasion in 1989, was convicted in 1992 of drug trafficking and sent to prison in Miami. Following the end of his sentence in 2007, Noriega remained behind bars pending his extradition to France, which alleged he laundered about $7 million in drug money by buying luxury Parisian apartments with his wife.

Noriega was tried and convicted in absentia in France in 1999, but the country agreed to give him a new trial when he was extradited.

Noriega's lawyer, Antonin Levy, said the 32 months his client spent in U.S. custody awaiting extradition will count toward the French sentence. If that is correct, then Noriega may be eligible for parole within a year.

Panama is seeking Noriega's extradition from France. The country's former leader was tried and convicted in absentia, and given a 60-year sentence.

Levy said Noriega could be sent to Panama at any time, if France agrees.