Suspects Abdeslam, Ayari sentenced to 20 years in prison in Belgium

BRUSSELS, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Salah Abdeslam, the sole surviving suspect of the 2015 Paris attacks, and co-defendant Sofien Ayari were sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Belgian federal court on Monday.

After a tense ten-hour deliberation, the federal prosecutor announced that a maximum sentence of 20 years will be given to Abdeslam and accomplice Ayari for attempted murder on police officers in Brussels on March 15, 2016, three days before their arrests.

The Criminal Court of Brussels overruled a plead made by civil party V-Europe, an association which brings together 200 victims of the Brussels attacks,in which they claimed that the arrests of Abdeslam and Ayari precipitated the attacks in Brussels that occurred four days after their arrest, reports Belgian newspaper "Le Soir".

After the trial in Belgium, Abdeslam will face longer court proceedings in France over his involvement in the Paris attacks in 2015. He will be detained in a prison in France and trialed in due course.

On November 13, 2015, France suffered the worst terrorist attack on its own soil. The attackers, armed with assault rifles and explosives, targeted at six locations across the city, killing 130 people and injuring more than 400 people.

Abdeslam was responsible for logistics for the group by hiring cars, hotel rooms and driving the attackers himself to the sites where the attacks took place. He had planned to blow himself up at the Stade de France before backing out at the last minute.

He was captured on March 18, 2016 during a police raid in the district of Molenbeek in Brussels, ending an intensive four-month manhunt. Four days after Abdeslam's capture, 32 people died in a suicide blast at Brussels international airport and at one of the city's busiest metro station.

Soon after his arrest, Abdeslam was extradited to France. Enditem