Elevate your local knowledge

Sign up for the iNFOnews newsletter today!

Select Region

Selecting your primary region ensures you get the stories that matter to you first.

Quebec mosque shooter has sentence cut

Quebec mosque shooter has sentence cut | iNFOnews.ca
Alexandre Bissonnette, who pleaded guilty to a mass shooting at a Quebec City mosque, arrives at the courthouse in Quebec City on February 21, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mathieu Belanger

Quebec's highest court has declared unconstitutional a provision of the Criminal Code that allows for life sentences to be served consecutively, reducing the sentence given to the man who murdered six people in a Quebec City mosque in 2017.

Alexandre Bissonnette, 30, was sentenced in February 2019 to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 40 years.

With today's decision from the Quebec Court of Appeal, he will be eligible to apply for parole after serving 25 years.

In sentencing Bissonnette, Quebec Superior Court Justice Francois Huot had rewritten the law, which since 2011 has allowed judges to impose consecutive life sentences for multiple murders and stack parole eligibility in blocks of 25 years.

Huot said that amounts to cruel and unusual punishment and settled on a period of 40 years in prison before Bissonnette could apply for parole.

The three-judge Appeal Court panel agreed that the consecutive sentencing provision violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but they decided that Huot erred in rewriting the law to allow for a 40-year period.

They said that with the provision of the Criminal Code invalidated, the sentence must be imposed according to the law as it stood before 2011, meaning Bissonnette can apply for parole after 25 years in prison.

Bissonnette pleaded guilty in March 2018 to six counts of first-degree murder and six of attempted murder. His victims were Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42; Abdelkrim Hassane, 41; Khaled Belkacemi, 60; Aboubaker Thabti, 44; Azzeddine Soufiane, 57; and Ibrahima Barry, 39.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 26, 2020.

News from © iNFOnews.ca, . All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Join the Conversation!

Want to share your thoughts, add context, or connect with others in your community?

Create a free account

Marshall Jones

News is best when it's local, relevant, timely and interesting. That's our focus every day.

We are on the ground in Penticton, Vernon, Kelowna and Kamloops to bring you the stories that matter most.

Marshall may call West Kelowna home, but after 16 years in local news and 14 in the Okanagan, he knows better than to tell readers in other communities what is "news' to them. He relies on resident reporters to reflect their own community priorities and needs. As the newsroom leader, his job is making those reporters better, ensuring accuracy, fairness and meeting the highest standards of journalism.

Related Articles