Noriega Declares Himself A POW
January 27, 1990
By DAVID LYONS
And RONNIE RAMOS
Herald Staff Writers
Deposed Panamanian dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega declared himself a prisoner of war Friday and, refusing to take part in his bond hearing, demanded to be transferred to a third country.
"His name is Manuel Antonio Noriega. His rank is four-star general. His serial number is 0001," said defense attorney Frank Rubino, refusing to recognize the authority of a federal court in Miami.
U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler brushed aside Noriega's request and ordered him held without bond.
Noriega appeared relaxed but alert in his open-coiler khaki military uniform, his epaulets adorned with four stars. He listened intently through headphones to a Spanish-language translation of the proceedings.
As incredulous prosecutors looked on, Rubino told the judge that his client did not recognize the court's right to try him on drug conspiracy charges.
"The government of the United States must immediately repatriate Gen. Manuel Noriega to a third country or to his homeland," Rubino said, contending that the federal government violated the Third Geneva Convention of 1949 by whisking Noriega out of Panama and off to the United States for trial.
Reading from a hastily filed motion, Rubino said there was "absolutely no question whatsoever" that the invasion of Panama by 24,000 American troops last December "totally and completely fulfills the definition of an armed conflict," and made Noriega eligible for prisoner-of-war status.
"General Manuel Antonio Noriega, Commander-in-Chief of the Panamanian Defense Forces of the Republic of Panama, hereby claims the status of PRISONER OF WAR," Rubino wrote Bush. "General Noriega further claims all of the rights, privileges and immunities of the Geneva Convention and its related protocol."
Rubino told Hoeveler that he could not proceed further until the prisoner-of-war question was decided by some higher tribunal: the World Court in The Hague, or Switzerland, where the Third Geneva Convention was shaped.
"International law transcends all domestic laws and therefore we must respectfully refuse to cooperate," Rubino told Hoeveler.
The move nearly upstaged prosecutors, who offered evidence to show that Noriega would escape to an unfriendly country if freed on bond, and would pose a danger to South Florida. Assistant U.S. Attorney Myles Malman said the government has located and frozen $20 million in Noriega's assets world-wide.
Repeatedly referring to the defendant as Mr. Noriega, Malman said that the fallen general was well educated in the field of counterterrorism and covert operation, and retains the support of armed loyalists in Panama.
"Mr. Noriega, a man who purportedly earned $50,000 a year as the head of the Panamanian Defense Forces, is a man of extraordinary wealth," Malman told the court.
When U.S. troops entered Noriega's Panama City residence, Malman said, they found $5.8 million in cash. Some of it was contained in enveloped marked, "For my general Noriega," with the notation "ESM." The letters, he said, stand for en sus manos - in your hands.
He also charged that Noriega still has ties with third countries that are unfriendly to the United States. Besides a long-standing relationship with Cuban President Fidel Castro, Malman also said, Noriega also befriended Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi, who once presented his Panamanian counterpart with "his and her" Gadhafi watches.
Malman said U.S. soldiers found in Noriega's Panama headquarters a list of names showing that Noriega may have targeted four American officials - including Hoeveler - for a possible Santeria curse.
"Maybe I had better not enter it into evidence," the judge joked.
The others on the list were Attorney General Richard Thornburgh, Justice Department lawyer Charles Sapho and former Miami federal prosecutor Mark Schnapp, who helped draft the indictment against Noriega.
Rubino scoffed at the government's presentation, calling it moot, frivolous and silly.
"Well, if that's the best they've got, I'm sure they'll agree to the motion we've filed he said.
In Washington, the Justice Department appeared unmoved by Noriega's request to be treated as a prisoner of war.
Our position is, as stated in the court, that he ought to be held without bail in this country for trial in the charges brought against him, said David Runkel, a spokesman for Thornburgh.
There was no response from the White House, the Pentagon or the State Department.
The legal maneuver was consistent with what Noriega's attorneys have been contending since he surrendered to American troops on Jan. 3: that the federal court has no jurisdiction because their client was illegally brought to the United States.
But Hoeveler refused to take up the issue Friday, saying the bond hearing was the only matter before him. "I think there is very little for me to decide," he said. "The case is before me. Your client is before me."
Because Noriega refused to respond to the prosecution allegations, the judge said he had no choice but to keep the former Panamanian leader incarcerated without bond.
Hoeveler expressed annoyance with the defense's courtroom tactics: Rubino filed his motion minutes before the hearing began, and one of his aides distributed copies to the reporters before the judge had a chance to read it.
It was Noriega's third visit in less than a month to Courtroom Nine in Miami's downtown federal courthouse.
Before the hearing, Richard Sharpstein, who represents Noriega co-defendant Brian Davidow, engaged in light banter with Noriega.
"He has a good sense of humor," Sharpstein said. "I asked him if he was going to watch the Super Bowl with George Bush, and he laughed and gave me the thumbs up.
Sharpstein and other lawyers for Noriega's co-defendants sat in the front row behind the defense table. They said Rubino's POW gambit would speed up their bid to seek separate trials for their clients.
"Something's going to give," said Samuel Burstyn, a lawyer for Lt. Col. Luis del Cid.
Burstyn complained that if Noriega stood muted during the trial, the co-defendants might be dragged into conviction without having their cases heard on their merits.
Lawyers for Del Cid, Davidow, William Saldarriaga, Daniel Miranda and Eduardo Pardo all hope to have their clients tried separately. Each contends that the co-defendants have a better chance with juries that are not distracted by Noriega's notoriety.
"My guy is being held in pretrial detention, and he wants a speedy trial," said Steven Kreisberg, who represents Saldarriaga. "It would be awfully hard for him to get a fair trial."
But Michael O'Kane, who represents Miranda, said Rubino's maneuver was "inspired."
"This case is a steamroller," he said. "And what can you do to stop a steamroller?"
Noriega has access to millions, U.S. says
In an effort to show that Manuel Antonio Noriega would escape if he were freed on bond, federal prosecutors told a judge Friday that former general - who made $50,000 a year as head of the Panamanian military - has access to millions of dollars. Prosecutors said:
■ Noriega owned a $400,000 apartment in Paris. In a Sept. 4, 1984 letter to the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, Noriega asked for a loan to buy the apartment for 5.3 million listed deposits in four BCCI accounts in London.
■ Between August 1982 and February 1988, Noriega deposited $17.3 million into British BCCI accounts. In February 1988, three days after he was indicted in Miami, Noriega transferred $14 million from Britain to Luxembourg. On Feb. 14, he moved another $4.3 million.
■ In 1986, the Noriega family's Visa credit card bill was $142,000. It was $127,000 in 1987. "Times were a little tougher that year," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Myles Malman. In 1988, it was $32,000. Malman says the sharp decrease occurred because the Miami indictment was returned that February. Among the expense Noriega charged were trips to Miami, Italy, France, Japan, England and Switzerland.
■ An account in the Panamanian bank Bancomer, listed in Noriega's name, showed $178,495 deposited between April 15 and April 21, 1989.
■ Two Panamanian bank accounts listed in the name of Noriega's 17-year-old daughter, Thays de Pons, had deposits of $1,335,988 on Aug. 12, 1989.
■ About 5.8 million in cash was confiscated from Noriega's three-story home in the Altos del Golf neighborhood of Panama City shortly after the Dec. 10 U.S. invasion. Malman introduced a picture of the cash, which was found in envelopes marked "confidential" and made up mostly of $50 and $100 bills.
■ The U.S. government has frozen more than $20 million of Noriega's cash in at least five different European countries: $4.8 million in Luxembourg, $2.3 million in France, $8 million in Switzerland, $1.6 million in Austria and $3.5million "in other accounts that we don't wish to disclose at this time," Malman said.
