The main suspect, Salah Abdeslam, was found guilty of terrorism and murder, Judge Jean-Louis Peries said. The amount of the penalty will be announced later. Abdeslam faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole, a sentence that has only been handed down four times in France.
–
All but one of the defendants, Farid Kharkhach, were found guilty on all counts, including terrorism. The court found Kharkhach guilty of criminal conspiracy to defraud.
–
Abdeslam, a Frenchman of Moroccan origin, is the only survivor of a group of terrorists who attacked the Bataclan music club in Paris on November 13, 2015, and other places in the capital and its suburb of Saint-Denis. Seven suicide bombers died in attacks claimed by the Islamic State terrorist organization. Up to 130 people died in the Paris attacks.
–
The process started last fall and lasted ten months. Abdeslam proudly declared at the start of the trial that he was a “soldier” of the Islamic State. However, he later apologized to the victims and survivors along with some of the other defendants. At the last hearing, he claimed he had made mistakes but was not a murderer.
–
Of the 20 men on trial, six, including five senior figures from the Islamic State militant group, are being tried in absentia because they are believed to have died during the attack.
–
Others indicted include Mohamed Abrini, who admitted involvement in the Paris attacks but denied leading the operation, and Mohamed Amri, who admitted driving Salah Abdeslam to Paris from Belgium but denied any links to terrorism. states BBC.
—
