Paris Terror Attacks: Trial Concludes With Life Imprisonment For Sole Surviving Terrorist

Paris (CNSNews.com) – After a 10-month trial, ISIS terrorist Salah Abdeslam has been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for his role in the deadly terror attacks that shook the French capital in November 2015.

Abdeslam, the main accused, is also the only survivor of the attacks. Mohamed Abrini, a 37-year old Belgium citizen of Moroccan descent who was also involved in the plot, was sentenced to life in prison, with no parole for at least 22 years.

Most of the 20 terrorists on trial over the attacks were found guilty and received sentences ranging from five years to life imprisonment, according to their direct or indirect involvement.

In some cases, they had supplied weapons or helped suspects hide from police. The lighter sentences were handed to those found by the court to have been unaware that the people they were helping had just committed a terrorist attack.

Only 14 of the 20 were present at the trial as the other are on the run and/or presumed dead. One is detained in Turkey, which has refused to extradite him.

One hundred and thirty people were killed and 350 injured in attacks at a sports stadium, bars, restaurants and a concert hall in Paris on the night of November 13, 2015. ISIS claimed responsibility for the gun and bomb attacks, which were carried out by three teams of jihadists.

Abdeslam, a 32-year-old French citizen of Moroccan descent who grew up in Belgium, told the court this week that while he recognizes that he “made mistakes,” he is not a killer, and finding him guilty of that would be “an injustice.”

Earlier in the trial, Abdeslam claimed allegiance to ISIS and said the attacks were “a response to the French intervention in Iraq and Syria.”

Abdeslam was part of the group of terrorists who attacked the national stadium, during a soccer game attended by then-President François Hollande.

Three terrorists blew up their explosive belts when security personnel refused them entry to the stadium grounds. Abdeslam’s charges failed to explode, and he managed to escape. He was on the run for four months before being captured in a police operation in March 2016.

Over the ten-month trial more than 300 witnesses testified, including survivors of the attacks. Victims and their families have been represented by 330 lawyers.

There were also 2,979 civil parties – people considering themselves victims of an offense and who sought compensation for damages. Many testified about the loss of family members or friends.

When he took the stand last November Hollande said the terrorists had attacked France not for its actions abroad, “but over our lifestyles here” at home.

Marie-Claude Desjeux, president of a national group of attack victims, welcomed the culmination of the trial, saying, “Everything was done to ensure that the trial went well, and it did go well.”

Philippe Duperron, the head of another association of victims of the 2015 attacks, said that some survivors would be frustrated by the fact the accused had not confessed, “but a trial does not provide all the answers.”  Duperron’s son, Thomas, was among the 90 people killed in the attack on the Bataclan concert hall.

But another survivor of the Bataclan attack,  Arthur Dénouveaux, said he was pleased at how much information had come out during the trial.

“I expected to hear a lot less,” he said. “If I had been asked to describe the ideal trial, I would not have even dared to imagine the one we experienced.”

Bruno Poncet, who also survived the attack on the concert hall, noted that the accused had been well represented by “exceptional” defense lawyers.

“This is important,” he said, “because it shows that the answer to barbarism can only be democracy and justice.”

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