Manuel Noriega en route to prison in Panama after 22 years

PANAMA CITY—Former strongman Manuel Noriega headed home to Panama Sunday to face justice for the murder of political opponents more than two decades after his ouster in a bloody US invasion and exile in US and French prisons.

Manuel Noriega. AFP FILE PHOTO

An Iberia plane carrying the former dictator took off from a Paris airport shortly after 0800 GMT and headed to Madrid, from where the 77-year-old began the final leg of his journey home after a stopover.

Noriega, Panama’s military ruler from 1983 to 1989, was due to arrive in the country at 5:30 pm (2230 GMT), escorted by a delegation of six foreign ministry officials, police, doctors and a prosecutor who prepared the transfer in Paris.

“The time has come for Noriega to face justice in Panama for crimes against humanity,” said Alida Spadafora, the sister of Hugo Spadafora, a Noriega critic and doctor who was kidnapped, tortured and beheaded in 1985.

The former general faces three separate 20-year sentences handed down in the 1990s for the murders of Spadafora, a military officer who organized a coup attempt, and a labor leader.

After his overthrow in the 1989 US invasion, he spent 22 years in prison in the United States and France on drug trafficking and money laundering charges,

“I want to go back to Panama to prove my innocence in these procedures that were carried out in my absence and without legal assistance,” he told a French court during extradition hearing in November.

Aged now, with difficulty walking and suffering from various ailments, the former strongman also told the French judges that he wanted to return home “without hatred or resentment.”

But his return has reopened a painful chapter for opponents and victims of his regime as well as ordinary Panamanians who say Noriega has shown no sign of remorse.

“There is no hatred or resentment here. What there is is a demand that whoever commits a crime in this country pay for it with jail,” said Aurelio Barria, who led a 1987 protest movement against the regime.

The Panamanian government insists “inmate Noriega” will be treated like any other convicted criminal, releasing a video of his cell to counter press reports suggesting that he will be enjoy many of the comforts of home in prison.

The video showed a 12-square-meter (130-square-foot) cell with two windows, a bed, a bathroom and a metal door in a prison called El Renacer, which means rebirth in Spanish, on the banks of the Panama Canal northwest of Panama City, the government said.

On his arrival in Panama, Noriega was to be flown to the prison by helicopter under strict security.

“While Panama is known for being peaceful and tolerant, emotions are running high and inmate safety is our priority,” Foreign Minister Roberto Henriquez said Friday. “He will get the same treatment as any other inmate — dignified and respectful but firm.”

It remains uncertain exactly how long he may spend behind bars, as Panamanian law allows inmates aged 70 and over to petition for house arrest. Relatives of victims of Noriega’s regime have virulently opposed applying the rule to the former dictator.

But the predominantly youthful population — the average age is 27 — is more concerned with the economic rigors of everyday life, not the fate of a man who ruled the country with an iron fist before many of them were even born.

Others expressed compassion, noting that Noriega is suffering health problems.

“Let him live out his old age — he will go to prison but then go home. Noriega is not the only one to blame, there were others, but he is paying for what he did,” said Elvia Maria Ugarte, a 46-year-old housewife.

“I want to go back to Panama to prove my innocence in these procedures that were carried out in my absence and without legal assistance,” he told the court.

The return of Noriega, on the CIA’s payroll from 1968 to 1986 before he became an enemy of Washington, has sparked speculation over the possibility that he could reveal secrets about political figures and wealth amassed under his regime.

Panama’s current President Ricardo Martinelli has said that he would like to know who “in one way or another has been enriched at the expense of the military and the state” during that time.

Noriega spent more than 20 years in a US jail after his overthrow in 1989 before being extradited to France in 2010, where he was convicted of money laundering.