The only surviving attacker from the 2015 terrorist massacre at the Bataclan theatre and other sites in Paris has been convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
That is the most severe sentence possible in France, and very rare.
Salah Abdeslam was the chief suspect in an exceptional trial over the 2015 attacks, which killed 130 people and were claimed by the Islamic State group.
The judge in a special terrorism court on Wednesday found him guilty of murder and attempted murder in relation to a terrorist enterprise. The court found that his explosives vest malfunctioned, dismissing his argument that he ditched the vest because he decided not to follow through with his attack.
Of the defendants besides Abdeslam, 18 were handed various terrorism-related convictions, and one was convicted on a lesser fraud charge.
The other defendants are largely accused of helping with logistics or transportation. At least one is accused of a direct role in the deadly March 2016 attacks in Brussels, which also was claimed by the Islamic State group.
Over the course of the nine-month trial, Abdeslam proclaimed his radicalism, wept, apologized to victims and pleaded with judges to forgive his “mistakes.”
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