Noriega Lawyers to Take Testimony From 3 in Prison

Attorneys for Manuel A. Noriega are planning a high-risk move to free the former Panamanian leader from drug-trafficking charges.

The defense team will take testimony in Panama this week from three imprisoned former aides to Noriega in the hope that they can discredit a prosecution witness who testified last November about $10 million in payoffs to Noriega.

Defense lawyer Frank Rubino’s decision to take a videotaped deposition from Nivaldo Madrinan, the former head of DENI, Panama’s equivalent of the FBI, and from two other former officials represents a big gamble.

Madrinan and the others--Lucinio Miranda, former head of narcotics investigations for the Panamanian military, and Cleto Hernandez, once an officer in Noriega’s G-2 military intelligence unit--have been in prison since the United States invaded Panama two years ago. The new Panamanian government has charged them with human rights violations.

Madrinan was charged with directing vicious beatings of students three years ago, after anti-Noriega riots broke out in Panama. Miranda also has a reputation for violence.

“A jury may not look too kindly on witnesses like these,” said a legal expert not involved in the case. “It’s a roll of the dice. (Former aides) may even feel betrayed by Noriega and testify at variance from what Rubino expects.”

On the other hand, the three men could help Rubino’s defense of Noriega if they succeed in discrediting Ricardo Bilonick, a prosecution witness who told jurors at Noriega’s trial in Miami that the former dictator received millions of dollars from Colombia’s Medellin cartel.

Bilonick, once Noriega’s ambassador-at-large in Washington, was part owner of Panama-based INAIR Airlines, which cartel leaders used to ship cocaine into Florida and fly money back to Panama.

Madrinan may deny Bilonick’s testimony that Madrinan coordinated a $500,000 payoff to Noriega in August, 1983, in return for release of a shipment of INAIR cocaine that Panamanian authorities had inadvertently seized. Just what Miranda and Hernandez might say about Bilonick is unclear, although both reportedly were familiar with the drug trade.

The trial is to resume on Feb. 3, when Rubino is to begin presenting evidence favorable to Noriega.

Sources said that Hoeveler recently approved Rubino’s plan to videotape the testimony of the three imprisoned witnesses, on condition that federal prosecutors would be present to cross-examine them--as would occur if they testified in the courtroom.

Noriega has been on trial since last September on 10 charges of racketeering, conspiracy and drug-smuggling. He is accused of allowing Colombian drug gangs to use Panama as a way station for U.S.-bound shipments of cocaine. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 140 years in prison and be fined more than $1 million.