Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the 10-man unit that carried out coordinated terror attacks in Paris in 2015, has been found guilty of murder and sentenced to full life in prison, the toughest sentence available under French law, reports The Guardian.
Abdeslam, 32, a Brussels-born French citizen, was found guilty of taking part in the series of bombings and shootings across the French capital, which killed 130 people and injured more than 490.
The attacks, for which Islamic State claimed responsibility, began when suicide bombers struck outside the national sports stadium on the night of Friday 13 November 2015. Drive-by shootings and suicide bombings targeting cafés and restaurants followed, and finally, a gun attack at the Bataclan theatre during a rock concert by Eagles of Death Metal killed 90 people.
After the biggest criminal trial ever held in France, a panel of judges found Abdeslam guilty of terrorism. He was given a full-life term, the most severe penalty that can be imposed under French law. It offers only a small chance of parole after 30 years.
Another 19 suspects were found guilty of either plotting or offering logistical support, with sentences ranging from two years to life in prison.
Mohamed Abrini, a childhood friend of Abdeslam who was accused of transporting the attackers and weapons, was given a life sentence with 22 years as a minimum term.
Only 14 of the 20 accused appeared in court. The rest were missing, presumed dead, and were tried in their absence.
For 10 months in a specially built, heavily guarded court, hundreds of people who survived the deadliest peacetime attack on French soil gave shocking details of their ordeal – from crawling past corpses at the Bataclan to being held hostage by gunmen there or ducking Kalashnikov fire at restaurant pavement tables.
Nine of the 10-man group who struck the city died that night, either killing themselves or being shot dead by police – including Abdeslam’s elder brother, Brahim, who detonated an explosive vest at a Paris bar.