Friday, July 2, 1999; 10:50 a.m. EDT

PARIS (AP) -- A French appeals court today upheld a ruling throwing out three civil complaints against Cuban leader Fidel Castro on charges of drug trafficking and crimes against humanity.

Judge Herve Stephan, who also heads the investigation into the death of Princess Diana, ruled earlier this year that French law was not applicable and therefore the cases could not go forward.

One complaint was filed by lawyers for Ileana de la Guardia, the exiled daughter of Cuban Col. Antonio de la Guardia, who was convicted and executed in 1989 in Cuba along with three other officials for allegedly smuggling drugs.

In the other two cases, French photographer Pierre Golendorf, who spent 2 1/2 years in a Cuban jail, and Cuban artist Lazaro Jordana, jailed four years for illegally leaving the country, had filed two complaints accusing Castro of crimes against humanity, including torture and murder.

The three filed charges in France -- Golendorf because he is a French citizen, Jordana because he is based in the country, and de la Guardia because she claims the drugs were destined for Europe, and France in particular.