Panama's ex-leader Noriega wants to go home again

MIAMI, Jan 24 (Reuters) Former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega wants to go home, spend time with his grandchildren and fight a murder case against him when he is released from a U S prison later this year after serving 15 years for drug trafficking, his lawyer said today.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons yesterday set a September 9 release date for Noriega, who was captured by U S forces following the 1989 invasion of Panama and brought to Florida to face charges that he allowed Colombian traffickers to use his country as a transit hub for U S-bound drugs.

The date set for Noriega's release had been posted on the Bureau of Prisons' Web site for more than a year but his attorney, Frank Rubino, said it was now definitive.

''That's his mandatory release date. It's not a negotiable or appealable date,'' Rubino said. ''His whole life is in Panama and obviously he wants to return to Panama.'' The former military strongman, who was effectively Panama's ruler from 1983 to 1989, was convicted in a Miami federal court in April 1992 of trafficking, racketeering and conspiracy. He was initially sentenced to 40 years in prison but the term was later reduced to 30 years.

Noriega, 70, is unlikely to go free when he is released from the Miami-area penitentiary where he served most of his time in a specially built 250-square-foot (23-square-metre) cell dubbed the ''presidential suite.'' He still faces legal problems in both Panama, where he was convicted in absentia 14 years ago for murder, and in France, where he is wanted for alleged money laundering.

Rubino said he hoped to arrange for Noriega a ''voluntary deportation'' to Panama, where the former general wants to challenge the murder case, a conviction for the 1985 torture-slaying of Hugo Spadafora, a doctor and journalist who was one of Noriega's most vocal critics. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

''He will move to reopen that case so he can clear himself,'' Rubino said.

US forces invaded Panama late in 1989, their primary aim to capture Noriega, a one-time ally turned foe. He holed up in the Vatican mission in Panama City before giving himself up on January 3, 1990.

Under U S law Noriega, who was granted prisoner-of-war status by the court, was eligible for parole after serving two-thirds of his sentence and was granted additional breaks for good behavior and time served before his conviction. He applied for parole several times but was rejected.

Noriega is healthy, in good spirits and ready to go home after more than 17 years in U S custody, Rubino said.

''He's happy that he's going to get released from U S custody.

He's anxious to go home. He wants to spend time with his grandchildren,'' he said.

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