the defendants of the trial of the assassination of Father Hamel sentenced to eight to 13 years in prison

The trial of the assassination of Father Hamel in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in 2016, delivered its verdict on Wednesday March 9. The three accused were sentenced to terms ranging from eight to thirteen years in prison. At the Paris courthouse, they were tried for association with terrorist criminals.

The three defendants tried to defend themselves by claiming to have played only a minor role in the assassination of Father Hamel. But the court reminded them of the extreme gravity of the facts, their conspiratorial behavior and their perfect awareness of joining this terrorist group. This trial remains marked by the absence of the fourth defendant, undoubtedly the most important. Rachid Kassim, the mastermind of the attacks and recruiter of the Islamic State, probably killed in Iraq, was sentenced, in his absence, to life imprisonment.