The special criminal court in Paris on Tuesday upheld sentences ranging from two to 18 years in prison for the eight defendants in the 2016 Nice attack, which killed a total of 86 people and injured more than 400 others.
Mohamed Ghraieb, Ramzi Arefa and Chokri Chafroud, the three main defendants, have been found guilty of the crime of terrorist criminal association, as reported by the French television channel BFM TV.
Ghraieb and Arefa have been sentenced to 18 years in prison each, while Chafroud must spend twelve years in jail and for another fifteen years will be forbidden to possess weapons even if he has the relevant permits.
The French Public Prosecutor’s Office had requested prison sentences of 15 years for these three main suspects.
Three other defendants, Artan Henaj, Enkeledja Zace and Maskim Celaj, were sentenced to eight, five and three years in prison respectively. Two of them will also be permanently banned from entering French territory.
The remaining two suspects were sentenced to three and two years in prison, as well as a permanent ban on entering France for the crimes of carrying weapons and participation in criminal association.
The trial for the mass shooting in Nice, perpetrated on July 14, 2016, began in mid-September at the special criminal court in Paris.
