The only surviving attacker of the 2015 terrorist massacre at the Bataclan Theater and other places in Paris has been convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole.
This is the most severe sentence possible in France, and very rare.
Salah Abdeslam was the prime suspect in an exceptional trial for the 2015 bombings, which killed 130 people and were claimed by the Islamic State group.
The judge of a special terrorism court found him guilty on Wednesday of murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise. The court found his explosive vest to be malfunctioning, and rejected his argument that he abandoned the vest because he decided not to continue his attack.
Of the accused, in addition to Abdeslam, 18 received several convictions for terrorism, and one was convicted on a charge of misdemeanor fraud.
The other defendants are largely accused of helping with logistics or transportation. At least one is accused of playing a direct role in the deadly attacks of March 2016 in Brussels, which was also claimed by the Islamic State group.
During the nine-month trial, Abdeslam proclaimed his radicalism, wept, apologized to the victims, and asked the judges to forgive his “mistakes.”