Noriega to avoid justice at home

Manuel Noriega. Photo / Reuters

PANAMA CITY - A US judge's decision to extradite Manuel Noriega to France has denied Panama the chance to hand justice to the former strongman for killing opponents during his rule in the 1980s.

Noriega will face money-laundering charges after his term in a US prison ends next month. The 73-year-old was sentenced in absentia in his homeland for the 1985 beheading of outspoken critic Hugo Spadafora and for the killing of nine soldiers who tried to topple him in 1989.

- Reuters