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A French court is scheduled to consider an appeal by the ex-dictator of Panama, Manuel Noriega, to be set free after being put under preventive detention, a judge and some lawyers revealed on Wednesday.

The 72-year-old former military ruler of Panama has been incarcerated at the La Sante prison, which is located in the southern part of Paris, France, since 27 April. This came after he was extradited from the US to face indictments of drug money laundering.

Authorities in France stated that Noriega has managed to launder approximately $3 million in drug money by purchasing luxury flats in Paris. If proven guilty and convicted, he could be facing a 10-year sentence in France.

The lawyers of Noriega and a judge, who opted to withhold their identities due to the fact that they have no authority to speak regarding the case to the press, said that the appeal was scheduled to be heard this coming Friday. They also said that the ex-dictator’s trial relative to the charges of money laundering would be conducted on the 8th, 29th and 30th of June.

Noriega was arrested as a civilian following France’s refusal to recognise his demand that he should be considered as a prisoner of war (POW). Additionally, the US has considered him as a prisoner of war; however, the French government said that the former dictator was not eligible for the said status in their territory.

A judge in the US granted Noriega a POW standing in Miami, Florida, where he had been incarcerated after the US assaulted Panama, which ultimately led to his downfall in 1989. His lawyers said that the standing could not be cancelled.

US authorities look likely to grant the French government’s request for the extradition of Manuel Noriega after the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by the Panamanian dictator.

The French authorities want to try Noriega on charges of money laundering and have requested he be extradited after he finishes his current sentence for drug racketeering.

Noriega had hoped to be returned to his native country at the end of his sentence in 2007 – as he claims would be fitting with his current status as a “prisoner of war” conferred after he was arrested following the US invasion of Panama in 1989 which toppled his administration.

Lawyers for Noriega argued that the POW status meant that he should be granted the rights afforded by the Geneva Convention which would require him to be returned to his own country.

The former dictator has already been convicted in France in his absence of laundering millions of Euros of drug money in the country, but the French courts have agreed to hold a new trial should their extradition request be granted.

And while  US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will have the last say on whether  the extradition will go ahead, Noriega’s team appeared yesterdays to have conceded defeat.

“There is no doubt in my mind they will send him to France,” said his lawyer Frank Rubino.

Noriega is also subject to an extradition order form the current Panamanian government.