Moments after being acquitted of two counts of first-degree murder, Claude Paquin told the Quebec Superior Court judge that he was finally able to escape the **** he has been living in for more than 40 years.

"I now have total freedom," Paquin, 81, told a group of reporters at the Montreal courthouse on Wednesday.

His acquittal brought an end to his decades-long fight to prove his innocence that featured multiple twists, including the now-discredited testimony of a police informant.

His court vict…