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A special court in Paris today gave verdicts for 20 men who carried out a terrorist attack in the Bataclan club in November 2015, in which 130 citizens were killed, French media report. These verdicts ended the largest trial in modern French history, which lasted a total of nine months.
The verdict for Salah Abdeslam, who is also the only surviving member of ISIL who carried out the attack on November 13, 2015, caused the most attention. "Salah Abdeslam is the only living and main accused member of the terrorist group and has therefore been found guilty of participating in a criminal terrorist enterprise and of the killings that followed," Le Monde said.
Life in prison
According to French media, Abdeslam was sentenced to life in prison without the parole. On the eve of the sentencing, Abdeslam also addressed those present in court, saying that he was not a murderer. "I made mistakes, it's true, but I'm not a murderer, I'm not a killer," he said.
As for other members of the terrorist group suspected of complicity and other acts, a court in Paris sentenced them to two years in prison to life in prison. Some members of the terrorist group are suspected of plotting attacks or hiding Abdeslam from the police.
The four members are presumed to have died in Syria, but a court in Paris tried them in absentia and sentenced them to life in prison. Also, an urgent investigation has been requested as to whether they were killed during the fighting in Syria in recent years or are currently hiding in certain parts of this country.
In addition, the media in France point out that some of the members of the terrorist group admitted to helping the attackers, but also stressed that they were not aware of what kind of attack the group would carry out. Life for Paris, the main organization for survivors and victims' families announced on Tuesday that the organization will begin to wind down, eventually closing on November 13, 2025, the ten-year anniversary of the attacks.
"(The dissolution) is also for us to return to a certain form of normalcy, at our own free will, far from public attention," the group said in a statement.
