Gunman in Quebec mosque shooting sentenced to life in prison

Quebec mosque shooter sentenced to life with no parole for 40 years

Quebec mosque shooter sentenced to life with no parole for 40 years

A Canadian judge has sentenced a man accused of killing six men at a Quebec City mosque to life in prison with no chance for parole for 40 years.

The killer's "highly premeditated" attack on the mosque will go down in Canadian history "written in blood" as one of this country's worst tragedies, Huot said in court.

Quebec prosecutors had asked that Bissonnette serve consecutive sentences for each charge, for a total of 150 years in prison without parole.

Bissonnette, who is only 29-years-old, pleaded guilty to the six counts of first-degree murder in March of last year.

Outside the courtroom, Aymen Derbali, who was left quadriplegic in the shooting, said he was "very upset and astonished" that Bissonnette did not get more time.

One of the man's victim who was paralyzed in the attack, Aymen Derbali, said that numerous survivors were not pleased with the judge's sentencing.

"I am ashamed of what I did", he told a Quebec courtroom at the time.

A university student at the time of the shooting, Bissonnette appeared to have been seduced by nationalist and supremacist ideologies into committing this "unjustified and deadly" massacre that sought to "undermine our fundamental societal values", the judge said.

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Several people in the room wept as the judge read a second-by-second account of the shooter's actions on the night of the crime.

Justice Francois Huot chose instead to allow for the possibility of parole within Bissonnette's natural life.

Huot noted that witnesses at his sentencing hearing testified that he had been severely bullied in school and had a documented history of mental health problems.

The judge said that in the years leading up to the shooting Bissonnette increasingly drank alcohol and experienced anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. The defence had argued the sentences should be served concurrently, making him eligible for parole after 25 years. This was a Reuters error as the judge was still reading his judgment.

The longest prison sentence in Canada to date is 75 years without parole, which has been given to at least five triple killers since the law was changed in 2011 to allow consecutive sentences.

Mohamed Labidi, former president of Quebec City's Islamic Cultural Centre, said the Muslim community is looking for justice in Friday's ruling. Bissonnette's parents were also present.

"His (Bissonnette's) crimes were truly motivated by race, and a visceral hatred toward Muslim immigrants", Huot said, according to CNN partner CBC.

On January 29, 2017, Bissonnette entered a Quebec City mosque during evening prayers and began shooting at worshippers there.

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