Noriega Defies Court : He Spurns U.S. Justice but Judge Enters Innocent Plea : Panamanian Dictator Under Tight Security

Fallen Panamanian dictator Manuel A. Noriega refused today to recognize the jurisdiction of a U.S. court and a judge entered a plea of not guilty on charges that he took $4.6 million to turn his nation into a way station for the cocaine trade.

Noriega surrendered Wednesday night to U.S. troops outside Panama City’s Vatican Embassy 10 days after he took refuge there, and was flown into Homestead Air Force Base south of Miami under cover of night.

U.S. marshals with binoculars scanned the downtown area continuously from atop the federal courthouse and patrolled halls in plain clothes, but otherwise kept a low profile in what U.S. District Judge William M. Hoeveler said was an effort to treat Noriega like any other defendant.

His attorneys, however, argued that he is anything but a normal drug suspect.

“We cannot submit to the jurisdiction of this court. Gen. Noriega will stand mute at the arraignment,” defense attorney Frank Rubino said as he and co-counsel Steven Kollin waited to see their client for the first time since his surrender.

Exactly a year ago, Hoeveler had ruled that the United States has jurisdiction over Noriega, rejecting defense claims of immunity for a head of state. The judge said the State Department never recognized Noriega’s political legitimacy.

Kollin has noted other potential legal pitfalls in the case, including extreme pretrial publicity and Noriega’s links with U.S. intelligence agencies, but U.S. Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh said he was confident the case was solid.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said President Bush and other White House officials will be careful about what they say lest they prejudice the trial.

Noriega’s surrender was met with joyous celebrations in the streets of Panama City and Miami that continued today.

The general--who had ruled for six years, thumbed his nose at two U.S. Presidents and annulled a 1989 election he apparently was losing--gave up, still wearing his military uniform, after realizing even his supporters had turned against him, the archbishop of Panama, Marcos McGrath, said today.

“The people feel a sense of peace knowing that the monster is leaving our land,” said Panamanian President Guillermo Endara, frequently a target of Noriega’s thugs.

An indictment accuses Noriega, who is in his 50s, of accepting $4.6 million in bribes from Colombian drug cartels to aid and protect their smuggling and processing--charges that carry 145 years in prison and $1.1 million in fines.

Noriega is not covered by the new U.S. law allowing execution of drug kingpins, an assurance he reportedly demanded before turning himself in. He also faces drug charges in Tampa.

The indictment names 15 other people, including the reputed head of the Medellin cocaine cartel, Pablo Escobar Gaviria, who is being hunted by Colombian authorities.

One of Noriega’s right-hand men, Lt. Col. Luis del Cid, surrendered to U.S. troops after the Dec. 20 invasion of Panama and has pleaded innocent. Prosecutors have refused to say if he will testify against his former boss.

U.S. troops who seized Noriega’s military headquarters in Panama City reportedly found documents and files supporting the prosecution case.

That, along with the arrests of Del Cid and other minor figures, has made the case stronger than when the indictment was issued two years ago, said Richard Gregorie, who headed the investigation until he left the U.S. attorney’s office a year ago.

U.S. officials said today that Noriega was handcuffed and advised of his legal rights as an accused drug trafficker as he flew back to the United States under jet fighter escort.

The Pentagon said Noriega traded his general’s uniform for a one-piece flight suit and took off in an Air Force C-130 for Miami only 43 minutes after he surrendered to U.S. troops at the Vatican Embassy in Panama City Wednesday night.

The troops took Noriega from the embassy to Howard Air Base in a helicopter and turned him over to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials before he was put aboard the C-130, Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams said.

“On board the plane, two U.S. military doctors examined him and pronounced him fit to fly,” Williams said, adding that Noriega was made to trade his brown slacks and tan shirt with military emblems for a zippered Air Force flight suit.

White House spokesman Fitzwater told reporters that Noriega was handcuffed at one point, although he could not say how long the handcuffs were kept on.

Justice Department spokesman David Runkel told reporters a DEA agent read Noriega his constitutional rights in Spanish aboard the plane after it took off, taking Noriega to Florida to face drug-trafficking charges.

Runkel was unable to say whether the agent questioned Noriega after telling him he had the right to remain silent or to have an attorney present during questioning.

PANAMANIANS CELEBRATE ARREST OF NORIEGA: P12