Salah Abdeslam found guilty of terrorism
A French court on Wednesday (29) sentenced to life in prison the sole survivor of the Islamic militant group that killed 130 people in a night of carnage in Paris in 2015.
Salah Abdeslam was found guilty of terrorism with no possibility of being released, in a sentence applied only four times previously in France. Another 19 men tried for helping organize the November 13, 2015 attacks on the Bataclan concert hall, six bars and restaurants and the Stade de France were also found guilty.
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Abdeslam had said at the start of the trial that he was a “soldier” of the Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the attacks.
He later apologized to the victims and said during the trial that he had decided at the last minute not to detonate his explosive vest. But based on the investigations and the hearings, the court concluded that this is not true. “The court found that there was a defect in the explosive vest,” said Judge Jean-Louis Peries. Abdeslam is “guilty of being a member of a terrorist network,” he added.
