Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 20, 1990 TAG: 9005200151
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: MIAMI LENGTH: Long
Release of the information would be part of the pre-trial sparring in an increasingly complex and politically charged case that may include videotaped testimony by President Fidel Castro of Cuba and the appearance of an array of U.S. agents and intelligence officials, as well as the perusal by lawyers and the trial judge of hundreds of classified documents.
"Fidel said he wants to help and is willing to do whatever he can to show Noriega is innocent," Frank Rubino, Noriega's chief defense lawyer, said in an interview.
Several lawyers say the trial, scheduled for next year, may set new guidelines defining the extent of the U.S. government's power to seize a suspected criminal abroad and establish new ground on the use of classified information in court.
The government has not yet sought to block, on national security grounds, the introduction of classified material in the case against Noriega.
It is by no means clear what would happen if the government did raise such objections.
Rubino said the former Panamanian dictator claims to have received $11 million in payments from the U.S. government and $7 million from intelligence agencies of several foreign governments for his services over the years.
He added that Noriega is in "good spirits" and ready to go to trial to fight the government's case.
A government official involved in the case scoffed at the $11 million figure.
He said the government planned to declare at a hearing on Monday in U.S. District Court here "a far lower amount" that it says it paid to Noriega.
The government's move toward disclosure appears to have been prompted by Rubino's subpoenaing virtually every major U.S. intelligence, defense and foreign policy agency, demanding that they relinquish records showing payments to Noriega in the years that he is reported to have worked as an informant and agent for the U.S. government.
The subpoenas form part of a broad defense strategy that Rubino said is intended to concentrate on the political implications of U.S. government actions in Panama, rather than the narrower legal issues of the government's case charging Noriega with being a drug dealer.
After supporting Noriega for years as a paid U.S. agent, the United States invaded Panama last December to arrest Noriega on drug charges.
The general was indicted by two grand juries in Florida in 1988 on a dozen counts of cocaine trafficking and racketeering involving shipments of drugs into the United States.
In effect, Rubino is trying to put the government on trial.
He has already forced the government to grant Noriega status as a prisoner of war, rather than as a common criminal.
As a prisoner of war, he is visited regularly by a U.S. Army officer and is allowed to wear a uniform in court.
Rubino has also argued it would be morally intolerable for a U.S. court to recognize the killing of more than 200 people and the destruction of millions of dollars of property in an invasion to seize one person.
Rubino argues that the law should not grant such broad power to the U.S. government to seize a criminal suspect.
Rubino says he hopes to show that Noriega carried out many apparently illegal activities with the compliance, and at times the participation, of U.S. intelligence agencies.
He said he intends to subpoena an array of current and former U.S. intelligence officials, as well as classified documents, to make his case.
"I will show that, sure, he did some not-nice things, but that he did them as part of operations that he was carrying out for our government," Rubino said.
In pursuit of that strategy, Rubino has already taken some unusual steps.
He said he flew to Cuba last month, where Castro gave him documents that will "greatly help" Noriega's defense.
He added that Castro is "eager" to assist the defense and may well testify in Noriega's behalf in a videotaped deposition.
It is not clear whether or how Castro could be cross-examined.
A Justice Department official contended that the government's case has grown stronger since the invasion of Panama because several additional witnesses and documents have been found to support the prosecution.
"The case rests on our being able to argue it as a criminal case against a drug-dealer, instead of a political case against the government," the Justice department official said.
Rubino has denied repeated requests for an interview with Noriega.
He described Noriega as calmly preparing himself for his trial from a small cell in the local federal prison.
Rubino said Noriega has access to a telephone and mail and that he has made calls to Panama.
U.S. officials have contended that Noriega has used the calls to threaten some potential witnesses, but Rubino said he had no information to support such an accusation.
by CNB