He will end his days in prison.
At the end of 10 months of hearing, the 10th man of these terrorist commandos Salah Abdeslam, was sentenced to the maximum sentence: irreducible life imprisonment.
This Wednesday, the magistrates of the specially composed assize court, after nearly 48 hours of deliberation, sealed the fate of twenty defendants tried for their participation, to varying degrees, in the organization of the commandos which caused the death of 130 people in Paris and Saint-Denis on November 13, 2015. 19 out of 20 accused's were found guilty of murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise.
During their closed session, the judges had to rule on the responsibility of the accused "in the sincerity of their conscience" and on the charges against each of them.
“The law asks them only this single question, which contains the full extent of their duties: Do you have an intimate conviction?
“, recalled President Jean-Louis Périès, shortly before the end of the trial.
Life imprisonment sentences
The National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office (Pnat) demanded life sentences against five of the 14 defendants present - six others were tried in their absence - of this river trial, the longest in French judicial history after -war.
The most severe sentence provided for by French law, incompressible life imprisonment, which makes the possibility of release minimal, had been claimed against Salah Abdeslam.
Read alsoAttacks of November 13, 2015: the five lessons of a historic trial
Last to speak in court on Monday, Salah Abdeslam reminded the judges that it was "with the sword of the prosecution on his neck" that he spoke.
"Perpetuity is undoubtedly up to the facts, but not up to the men who are in the box," he said in a pro domo plea.
“Public opinion says that I was on the terraces with a Kalashnikov to shoot at people.
Public opinion thinks I was at the Bataclan and killed people.
You know the truth is the opposite, ”said the 32-year-old Frenchman in a calm voice.
“I've made mistakes, it's true, but I'm not an assassin, I'm not a killer.
If you condemn me for assassinations, you will commit an injustice,” he said.
In total, the prosecution requested sentences ranging from five years to life imprisonment.
For two weeks, during their closing arguments, defense lawyers urged the court to resist “fear” and not respond to a mass crime whose main perpetrators died while delivering “exceptional” justice. .
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“Requisitions at the height of horror”: incompressible life sentence required against Abdeslam
“If, in the name of the emotion aroused by these crimes, we come to condemn the murderer, the accomplice in preparatory acts, the renter of cars and houses, as equals, then it will be necessary to admit that the rule of law has melted in shock and all that remains is a cardboard decoration, ”said in particular Me Orly Rezlan, the lawyer for Mohamed Bakkali – against whom life imprisonment with 22 years of security had been required.
