Last Paris attacker convicted of murder
Life without parole for attacks that killed 130
PARIS • The only surviving attacker from the 2015 terrorist massacre at the Bataclan theatre and other sites in Paris has been convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
That is the most severe sentence possible in France, and very rare.
Salah Abdeslam was the chief suspect in an exceptional trial over the 2015 attacks, which killed 130 people and were claimed by the Islamic State group.
The judge in a special terrorism court Wednesday found him guilty of murder and attempted murder in relation to a terrorist enterprise. The court found that his explosives vest malfunctioned, dismissing his argument that he ditched the vest because he decided not to follow through with his attack.
A special French court on Wednesday found 20 men guilty of involvement in the attacks on the Bataclan theatre, Paris cafés and France's national stadium in the deadliest peacetime attacks in French history.
Abdeslam was found guilty of murder and attempted murder in relation with a terrorist enterprise, among other charges.
Presiding judge JeanLouis Peries read the verdicts in a courthouse surrounded by unprecedented security, wrapping up a ninemonth trial. Of the defendants besides Abdeslam, 18 were handed various terrorism-related convictions.
Over the course of the nine-month trial, Abdeslam proclaimed his radicalism, wept, apologized to victims and pleaded with judges to forgive his “mistakes.”
For victims' families and survivors of the attacks, the trial has been excruciating yet crucial in their quest for justice and closure.
For months, the packed main chamber and 12 overflow rooms in the 13th century Justice Palace heard the harrowing accounts by the victims, along with testimony from Abdeslam. The other defendants are largely accused of helping with logistics or transportation. At least one is accused of a direct role in the deadly March 2016 attacks in Brussels, which also was claimed by the Islamic State group.
France was changed in the wake of the attacks: Authorities declared a state of emergency and armed officers now constantly patrol public spaces. The violence sparked soul-searching among the French and Europeans, since most of the attackers were born and raised in France or Belgium. And they transformed forever the lives of all those who suffered losses or bore witness.
Fourteen of the defendants have been in court, including Abdeslam, the only survivor of the 10-member attacking team that terrorized Paris that Friday night. All but one of the six absent men are presumed to have been killed in Syria or Iraq.