Judges concluded tonight that the only suicide bomber who survived the greatest terrorist attack in recent French history will serve the rest of his life behind bars.
Due to his involvement in the atrocities in November 2015 that resulted in the murder of 130 people, Salah Abdeslam, 32, is not eligible for release.
Abdeslam and 18 other suspects were found guilty of various terrorist-related offenses on Wednesday night in Paris by five anti-terrorist judge specialists.
According to court president Jean-Louis Périès, Abdeslam was “completely absorbed into the terrorist group.”
It came after a protracted, ten-month trial held in a specially constructed courtroom at the Paris Palais de Justice.
Abdeslam, a French-Moroccan national who currently resides in Belgium, asserted that he purposefully withdrew from the attack during which other ISIS militants, including his own brother, were obliterated.
He begged for forgiveness this week, saying, “I realize there is still hatred for me.” I beg you to harbor mild animosity for me.
In addition, he identified himself as a “Soldier with Islamic State” and said that he had been detained in a prison outside of Paris.
The court determined that Abdeslam was a member of the “commando unit” that attacked the Bataclan concert hall, six restaurants and bars, and the Stade de France national sports stadium in Paris.
14 of the 20 initial defendants were present in court, while six were tried absentee, with the assumption being that the majority of them perished while supporting ISIS in Syria or Iraq.
The lengthy judicial proceeding, which is the largest in French history, got under way in September.
In the hours following the Friday the 13th attack, Abdeslam allegedly fled from the French capital after his bomb vest allegedly malfunctioned.
In April, when being questioned by the defense, he declared, “I’m going to explain myself because this is the final time I can do it.”
He lamented how the media had portrayed him, saying, “I’m going to do the best I can, I’m going to try my best.”
Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Isis cell leader who later perished in an explosion, according to Abdeslam, first informed him of the attack’s preparations.
It shocked me when he told me about blowing myself up, Abdeslam claimed. “I considered traveling to Syria.” I wasn’t feeling prepared.
Days after his capture in March 2016 following a four-month manhunt in Brussels that ended in a gunfight, suicide bombers who were thought to be members of the same cell allegedly bombed the city’s airport and the city Metro, killing 32 people and injuring hundreds more.
Abdeslam has already received a 20-year prison term in Brussels for the gunfight that preceded his arrest.
The 36-year-old childhood friend of Abdeslam, Mohamed Abrini, who is thought to have traveled to the Paris region with the terrorists, was also sentenced to life in jail.
Later, when the two bombs at the Brussels airport were captured on CCTV, Abrini was identified as “The Man in the Hat.”
The six-year inquiry into everyone connected to the Paris trial resulted in written conclusions that, when lined up, were 53 meters (174 feet) long.
A total of 450 plaintiffs, including injured victims and surviving family members, spoke in court about their tribulations.
Philippe Duperron, whose son was killed in the Bataclan, declared that the trial for the Paris attacks would “stand as a monument for justice.”