A Canadian man who killed worshippers in a Quebec City mosque in 2017 has been sentenced to life in prison.

Alexandre Bissonnette, 29, will be eligible for parole in 40 years.

The prosecution had asked for a total of 150 years behind bars, which would have been the harshest jail penalty ever handed down in Canada.

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

While reading his sentencing decision, the Quebec Superior Court judge said that "punishment should not be vengeance".

A first-degree murder conviction in Canada carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.

On the evening of 29 January, 2017, Bissonnette stormed into the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre and shot at those gathered for prayers, killing six and seriously injuring five others, including Aymen Derbali, who is now paralysed.

In March, Bissonnette admitted to killing Khaled Belkacemi, 60, Azzedine Soufiane, 57, Abdelkrim Hassane, 41, Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42, Aboubaker Thabti, 44, and Ibrahima Barry, 39, in the January attack.

He also pleaded guilty to six counts of attempted murder, including one count for the 35 people who were present in the mosque at the time of the shooting but who were not injured.

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

Source: BBC

BDST: 2130 HRS, FEB 9, 2019
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