Jailed Panamanian ex-dictator Manuel Noriega has apologised to victims of his 1983-1989 regime, which a truth commission found abducted and murdered opponents before his ouster in a US invasion. "I apologise to anyone who feels offended, affected, harmed or humiliated by my actions or those of my superiors in carrying out orders or those of my subordinates during the time of my civilian and military government," he said in a statement read out Wednesday on national television.
Noriega, 80, is currently serving three 20-year prison sentences for the disappearances of two opponents in the 1980s and a bloody crackdown on soldiers who staged a failed uprising against him. A truth commission found 110 cases of murders and disappearances of his opponents during his dictatorship. Noriega's apology was cautiously welcomed by former anti-regime figures. "It's time to heal our wounds. There are too many of them still open and there will be many more if we don't know how to act like true human beings and continue harbouring vengeance," said law professor Miguel Antonio Bernal, once a fierce Noriega opponent.
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