20 convicted for ’15 Paris attacks

Paris, June 29: A special French court on Wednesday found 20 men guilty of involvement in the Islamic State terrorist attacks on the Bataclan theatre, Paris cafes and France’s national stadium in 2015 that killed 130 people in the deadliest peacetime attacks in French history.

The chief suspect and only survivor of the 10member team of extremists, Salah Abdeslam, was found guilty of murder and attempted murder in relation with a terrorist enterprise, among other charges. He faces up to life in prison without parole, the toughest sentence in France.

Presiding judge JeanLouis Peries read the verdicts in a courthouse surrounded by unprecedented security, wrapping up a nine-month trial. Of the defendants besides Abdeslam, 18 were handed various terrorism-related convictions, and one was convicted on a lesser fraud charge.

Over the course of the nine-month trial, Abdeslam proclaimed his radicalism, wept, apologised 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.