Newly convicted killer Abdeslam gets life without parole

Abdeslam, 32, was found guilty of all five counts he was charged with. He is the fifth person in France sentenced to life without parole since it was legalized in 1994.

Abdeslam was one of 20 people on trial, but he was the sole defendant accused of carrying out the deadliest attacks France has ever seen in peacetime.

The other two suspects were charged with lesser crimes, such as helping to provide the attackers with weapons or cars. Six were tried in absentia.

Of the accused, 19 were found guilty on all counts while a lesser charge - Farid Kharkhach - was convicted of a lesser charge than he initially faced. The other 13 defendants in the courtroom received prison terms ranging from two years to 30 years for their crimes, apart from Abdeslam. Abdeslam didn't seem to react to his sentence. Kharkhach, who received the lightest sentence, cried after hearing his verdict. The verdicts are a culmination of a lengthy trial that began on September 8, 2021 and involved more than 330 lawyers and approximately 1,800 civil parties, according to the French Justice Ministry. The proceedings took place in a purpose-built courtroom inside the Palais de Justice in central Paris. The trial heard testimony from the first responders who described the horrors they saw at the Bataclan concert hall and bars and restaurants across the city. Survivors spoke of their desperation as they tried to hide from the terrorists, and family members of those killed recalled how their anxiety turned to sorrow as they learned of the death of their loved ones. Abdeslam, who was arrested in 2016, spoke publicly for the first time early in the trial, Defiantly declaring himself an Islamic State soldier, upsetting some survivors who took his words as a threat. Abdeslam later apologised to the victims and claimed to have killed no one. He urged the court not to give him a harsh sentence: I'm not a murderer, I'm not a killer,'' he said on the final day of hearings in the case. Many of the survivors and families of those who died are hoping to move on with their lives after the lengthy court case. Life for Paris, the main organization for victims 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 a way 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.