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French court convicts eight suspects in 2016 Nice terror attack trial
CGTN
Photos and names of the 86 victims of the July 14, 2016 truck attacks are seen on a memorial on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, August 29, 2022. /REUTERS
Photos and names of the 86 victims of the July 14, 2016 truck attacks are seen on a memorial on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, August 29, 2022. /REUTERS

Photos and names of the 86 victims of the July 14, 2016 truck attacks are seen on a memorial on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, August 29, 2022. /REUTERS

A French court on Tuesday ordered prison terms for eight suspects charged in the harrowing 2016 terror attack in Nice, where a suspected Islamist attacker ploughed his truck into a crowd celebrating the July 14 national holiday.

Two men were given the most severe sentences of 18 years behind bars for helping Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Tunisian resident, prepare an attack that killed 86 people and injured over 450 in a four-minute rampage on a seaside embankment in the southern city before being shot dead by police.

Bouhlel was shot dead by police on the spot after causing devastation and chaos on a two km (1.2 mile) stretch of Nice's seaside boulevard, where families had been celebrating Bastille Day, France's national holiday.

The Paris court found Mohamed Ghraieb, the main defendant and a friend of Bouhlel, guilty of belonging to a terrorist organization. He was handed an 18-year prison sentence.

The judges also found Chokri Chafroud and Ramzi Arefa, two other high-profile defendants - who had been accused of helping Bouhlel to obtain weapons and the truck - guilty of belonging to a terrorist organisation. They were handed jail sentences of 18 and 12 years respectively.

Five other people were handed sentences of two to eight years.

(With inputs from AFP)

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