he only suicide bomber to survive the worst terrorist attack in France’s recent history will spend the rest of his life in jail, judges ruled tonight.
Salah Abdeslam, 32, has no hope of parole for his part in the November 2015 atrocities in which 130 people were killed.
On Wednesday night, five specialist judges against terrorism sitting in Paris announced that Abdeslam, along with 18 other accused, were guilty of various terror-related charges.
Abdeslam was “fully integrated into the terrorist cell”, said court president Jean-Louis Périès.
This followed a ten-month marathon trial at a specially built court in the Palais de Justice in Paris.
Abdeslam, a French Moroccan citizen of Belgium, claimed he had deliberately pulled himself out of the hooliganism in which other ISIS terrorists, including his own brother, were blown to pieces.
He pleaded for indulgence this week, saying: ‘I know there is still hatred for me. I ask you to hate me with moderation. ‘
He also described himself as a ‘Soldier with Islamic State’, and was detained in a prison on the outskirts of Paris.
The court found Abdeslam was part of the ‘commando unit’ that attacked the Stade de France national sports stadium in Paris, along with six restaurants and bars, and the Bataclan music hall.
Fourteen of the 20 original defendants were in court, but six were tried in absentia, with most of them presumably dying while fighting for ISIS in Syria or Iraq.
The huge legal process – the largest in French history – began in September.
Prosecutors allege that Abdeslam’s explosive jacket malfunctioned and that he then ran away from the French capital in the hours after Friday the 13th.steattack.
“I’m going to explain myself because this is the last time I can do this,” he said while being cross-examined in April.
“I’m going to do the best I can, I’m going to do my best,” he said as he complained about his portrayal in the media.
Abdeslam said Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the leader of the Isis cell, who later died in an explosion, was first told of the plans for the attack.
“He told me I blew myself up and it was a shock,” Abdeslam said. “I was thinking of going to Syria. I did not feel ready. ‘
Days after his arrest in March 2016 after a four-month search that ended in a shootout in Brussels, suicide bombers allegedly formed part of the same cell that was raided at the city’s airport and city metro, killing 32 and hundreds was injured.
Abdeslam has already been sentenced in Brussels to 20 years in prison for the shootout that accompanied his arrest.
Mohamed Abrini, Abdeslam’s 36-year-old childhood friend, who apparently traveled to the Paris region with the attackers, also faced life in prison.
Abrini was later caught on CCTV with the two Brussels airport bombers and became known as ‘The Man in the Hat’.
The investigation into all those involved in the Paris trial lasted six years and its written conclusions stretched to 53 meters (174 feet) when aligned.
About 450 plaintiffs – wounded victims and relatives of those who died – appeared in court to tell their orders.
The Paris trial attacks will ‘stand as a beacon for justice’, says Philippe Duperron, whose son was killed in the Bataclan.