40 YEARS FOR MOSQUE SHOOTER
But some say sentence too lenient
QUEBEC • As widows of some of his victims looked on, Quebec City mosque killer Alexandre Bissonnette on Friday was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 40 years — a sentence deemed far too light by some members of the Muslim community.
“Motivated by a visceral hatred toward Muslim immigrants,” Bissonnette, 29, committed a hate crime on Jan. 29, 2017, “a date that will forever be written in blood in this city, this province, this country,” Superior Court Justice François Huot said in handing down the sentence.
Bissonnette, who has already served two years in prison, will be eligible for parole when he is 67. Parole will not be automatic. To be released, he will have to convince the parole board that he does not present “an undue risk to society.”
The verdict came just over two years after Bissonnette gunned down six Muslim men, storming into the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City with two guns and 108 rounds of ammunition.
Several women cried quietly as Huot read a summary of his judgment, including detailed descriptions of how Bissonnette killed the men in a “professional, measured and hateful” way during the mosque massacre. Two women left the courtroom in tears.
“No sentence would bring (the six men) back among us,” Huot said. “No prison sentence, no matter the length, would heal the wounds of those condemned by Alexandre Bissonnette to live in grief and mourning until their last breath.”
Huot, who read a summary of the 246-page decision for more than five hours, said Bissonnette deserved 35 to 42 years.
The judge said he concluded that 25 years — the recommendation of Bissonnette’s lawyer — was too lenient.
However, consecutive sentences, whether they add up to 50 years or the 150 years the Crown and some members of the Muslim community were recommending, are “cruel and unusual” — and unconstitutional, he said.
Under the Criminal Code, Huot was obliged to impose a sentence in blocks of 25 years – 25, 50, 75, 100, 125 or 150 years.
However, in his judgment, the judge took the unusual step of altering the law to allow him to sentence Bissonnette in a different manner. Under the sentence, Bissonnette must serve five concurrent 25-year sentences onto which is added a 15-year sentence.
Huot said he did that to ensure the law conforms with the Constitution.
He said he agreed with Bissonnette’s lawyers, who had argued that a sentence that exceeds a criminal’s lifespan is unconstitutional be- cause the Charter of Rights protects Canadians from “any cruel and unusual punishment.”
Following the sentencing however, Aymen Derbali, who was shot seven times and left paralyzed from the waist down, told reporters he did not understand why the judge dwelled on Bissonnette’s life expectancy and the possibility that he would die in prison.
“We were astonished, we were very upset after this sentence,” Derbali said.
Boufeldja Benabdallah, president of the mosque that was attacked, said community members were “stunned” by the decision and felt the judge was more concerned about the dignity of the killer than that of the victims and their families.
“We want to appeal to Quebec society to understand us, to understand the pain we are in today, the disappointment we feel,” he said.
During the sentencing, Huot said he considered several aggravating factors, including the premeditated nature of the attack, the number of victims, and the fact that it was committed in a place of worship where four children were present.
The judge said he hadn’t believed Bissonnette when the killer said he had avoided shooting in the direction of the children, saying that statement was part of a pattern of “lies and manipulations.”
But Huot also cited several extenuating circumstances, including Bissonnette’s history of mental problems, his remorse, the possibility of rehabilitation, and his decision to give him- self up and plead guilty, sparing victims a long trial.
People had started lining up to enter the courtroom for the sentencing before 7:30 a.m., two hours before the sentence was to be handed down.
The courtroom is Quebec City’s biggest, with a capacity of about 225. Every seat was taken.
White “reserved seat” signs were placed on about 80 seats in the courtroom, for survivors of the rampage, the families of survivors, other members of the Muslim community, and Bissonnette’s parents.
An overflow room with a live feed of the proceedings was also set up.
The sentencing took place under tight security. To enter the courtroom’s gallery, people walked through metal detectors after security guards rifled through their bags and checked coats. Ten security guards watched over the gallery.
Wearing a blue sports jacket and a white shirt but no tie, Bissonnette, his wrists and ankles shackled, nodded to his parents and stared at them for several minutes as he entered the glass-enclosed prisoner’s dock.
Huot ordered him to be led to the witness box, where the killer stared at the judge as the sentence was read, occasionally turning to look at his parents and at members of the Muslim community, including several women wearing hijabs.
Bissonnette killed six men — Ibrahima Barry, Mamadou Tanou Barry, Khaled Belkacemi, Abdelkrim Hassane, Azzeddine Soufiane and Aboubaker Thabti. Five other men were injured by his gunfire. Another 35 people, including the four children, were in the mosque at the time.
Evidence from Bissonnette’s computer showed that he was fascinated with anti-immigrant alt-right and conservative commentators, mass murderers and U.S. President Donald Trump, and worried about an influx of Muslim immigrants in Quebec.
Crown prosecutor Thomas Jacques had asked Huot to impose the longest and harshest sentence in modern Canadian judicial history — no chance of parole for 150 years.
Jacques said he did not yet know whether he will appeal the sentence.
“Our first thoughts are for the very many victims of the horrible and senseless crimes committed by Alexandre Bissonnette,” he told reporters. “We’re thinking of the widows, the orphans, the families and the entire (Muslim) community. We salute the courage, resilience, and the great dignity shown by the victims throughout the difficult judicial process.”
Charles-Olivier Gosselin, Bissonnette’s lawyer, said he would review the judgment before commenting or deciding whether to appeal.
WE WERE ASTONISHED, WE WERE VERY UPSET AFTER THIS SENTENCE.