QUEBEC CITY: A29-year-old who shot dead six worshipers at a Quebec City mosque in the worstanti-Muslim attack in the West got life in prison Friday. Alexandre Bissonnettewill have to wait 40 years - longer than usual - before he can apply forparole. In his decision, Judge Francois Huot rejected a prosecution request fora 150-year sentence, which would have been the longest ever in Canada, saying"subjecting a murder to a sentence that exceeds his life expectancy"would be a cruel and unusual punishment under Canadian law.
But he also notedthe killer's "visceral hatred of Muslim immigrants". "You killedsix of your compatriots whose only crime was to be different thanyourself," Huot said in court. "With your hatred and racism, you'veruined their lives, yours and your parents', and the crime you've done deservesthe greatest denunciation," he said.
A universitystudent at the time of the shooting, Bissonnette appeared to have been seducedby nationalist and supremacist ideologies into committing this"unjustified and deadly" massacre that sought to "undermine ourfundamental societal values", the judge said. The attack at the QuebecIslamic Cultural Centre in the quiet Sainte-Foy neighborhood of Canada's oldestcity, he concluded, will go down in Canadian history "written inblood" as one of this country's worst tragedies.
As the 246-pageverdict was read over a six-hour period, Bissonnette sat quietly in the packedcourtroom, gazing at his feet while his parents and several friends and familyof the victims wiped tears from their eyes. Outside the courtroom, AymenDerbali, who was left quadriplegic in the shooting, said he was "veryupset and astonished" that Bissonnette did not get more time. "I hadhoped for justice for the victims, for the people who died, and that thesentence reflected the seriousness of the crime," he said. "This wasa very serious attack in a place of worship."
Surrounded bymembers who lamented having to face Bissonnette at a parole hearing in thefuture and relive the tragedy, mosque president Boufeldja Benabdallah said:"We are completely stunned." On Jan 29, 2017, Bissonnette burst intothe Quebec City mosque and unleashed a hail of bullets on the 40 men and fourchildren who were chatting among themselves after evening prayers.
Security videofootage showed a cold-blooded killer strategically and methodically firingdozens of shots, retreating to a safe area to reload his nine-millimeter pistolat least four times, "like he was playing a video game", recountedone witness. Six men were killed and five were seriously injured. The victimswere all dual nationals who emigrated to Canada over recent decades: TwoAlgerians, two Guineans, a Moroccan and a Tunisian. They were a scholar, abutcher, a daycare operator, a food industry worker, a public servant and acomputer programmer - all connected by faith.
Introverted andeducated, Bissonnette had been described after his arrest as a whitesupremacist opposed to Muslim immigration but not affiliated with any group. Atthe start of his trial in 2017, he said he had been suicidal, "swept awayby fear and by horrible despair", and deeply regretted his"unforgivable" actions. He also told the court he hoped for a"ray of hope at the end of the long, dark tunnel in which I lost myself onJanuary 29".
Survivorstestified about those harrowing moments under fire and their suffering sincethe shooting: One leaving a trail of smeared blood on the floor while dragginghimself to a hiding spot, another still feeling pain from bullet debris left inhis leg after surgery. Many said they are struggling with anxiety, includingone man who said he now plots a safe exit whenever he goes out to a coffee shopor a store. - AFP