The sole survivor of a 10-man unit that orchestrated the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks has been sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole, the most severe penalty that can be imposed under French law.
Salah Abdeslam, 32, a Brussels-born French citizen, was found guilty on Wednesday of murder and attempted murder in a terrorist context in connection to a series of bombings and shootings that fanned across the country’s capital, killing 130 people and injuring more than 400 others, according to the Guardian.
PROSECUTORS ASK FOR LIFE SENTENCES FOR 12 MEN AT TRIAL FOR 2015 PARIS ATTACKS
The other nine participants were killed in shootouts with police or via suicide bombs. Abdeslam has been described as a key participant, escorting three of the bombers to the Stade de France where they blew themselves up. Abdeslam was supposed to carry out his own attack in northern Paris afterward but backed out, he told the court. Prosecutors argued that his explosive belt simply malfunctioned.
Nineteen others on trial for their involvement were handed down sentences for either plotting or offering logistical support for the attacks, ranging from two years to life in prison.
The attacks, for which the Islamic State group took credit, began after suicide bombers struck the national sports stadium on Nov. 13, 2015. Coordinated attacks followed throughout the night. Shootings and suicide bombings targeted restaurants, cafes, and the Bataclan concert hall across the city.
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The sentencing on Wednesday marks a close to one of the deadliest attacks in modern French history.
