France demands 10-year term for Noriega
Published:Wednesday | June 30, 2010 | 5:21 PM
French prosecutors say they want the maximum 10-year jail sentence for Panama's former dictator Manuel Noriega on charges of laundering drug money.
State prosecutor Michel Maes says the French authorities are determined to follow this through to the end.
Noriega was extradited from the US in April after two decades in prison for drug trafficking.
A French court sentenced him in his absence to 10 years in 1999.
However, France agreed to a new trial if he was extradited.
Noriega has denied taking payments from Colombian drug lords in the 1980s and laundering the money in France.
The prosecution has alleged that Noriega laundered $2.8 million from Colombia's Medellin drug cartel in the late 1980s through the now-defunct Bank of Credit and Commerce International.