Judge reopens case against Noriega

A federal judge has reopened the case of a Lusk-area rancher who says he was illegally held and tortured in a Panamanian prison 25 years ago. Thomas Bleming's $21.5 million lawsuit against former dictator Manuel Noriega had been dismissed by U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson in Cheyenne last year, on the grounds that the lawsuit was based on international treaties over which the court had no jurisdiction. But the judge took the action "without prejudice," leaving the door open for Bleming to file again. Johnson earlier this month granted Bleming's request for permission to amend his lawsuit, and Bleming did so this week.

This time, Bleming is citing the 1991 Torture Victim Protection Act, which allows U.S. courts to assess damages against perpetrators of human rights abuses committed abroad.

"At least the case is still alive," said Bleming, who is continuing to represent himself while he searches for a lawyer to take the case.

Bleming filed the lawsuit against Noriega -- now in a federal prison in the United States on drug trafficking and other convictions -- in 2002, seeking $1 million for each month Bleming says he was tortured and held illegally in Panama.

Bleming, now 58, said he was arrested Oct. 11, 1979, while working with revolutionaries who were trying to bring down the government then led by Brig. Gen. Omar Torrijos. He said they had planned to attack a military base to start an insurrection.

In his lawsuit, Bleming claims he suffered injuries from beatings at the hands of Panamanian Intelligence Service and Panama National Guard agents under Noriega's direction. It also says he was denied medical treatment and was mentally, emotionally and physically tortured during his 21.5 months in various Panamanian prisons.

Bleming was eventually released to the custody of the U.S. Embassy in Panama and evacuated.

Specifically, the decorated Vietnam veteran described "long periods without food and water, beatings about his head and stomach, threats of death and rape, as well as witnessing the beating and torture of his comrade," Johnson noted in his earlier ruling.

"Incidents include having his hair torn out by its roots, being beaten with the butt end of a rifle (several times), being threatened with ejection from a plane (while in flight over the Pacific Ocean), having an officer point a .45 caliber pistol at his head..., being lined up with others and told to pray while a group of soldiers loaded their weapons, and enduring solitary confinement for long periods of time."

Johnson wrote that Bleming's account of his time in Panama from October 1979 to July 1981 "would be suitable for a Hollywood movie or Tom Clancy novel."

Noriega had represented himself in responding to the lawsuit, filing a motion to dismiss the case for numerous reasons, including lack of jurisdiction by the federal court.

State Editor Chad Baldwin can be reached at (307) 266-0583 or chad.baldwin@casperstartribune.net.

See: http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/10/21/news/wyoming/fecf79a7ffd6f02a872570a0007ff33f.txt