Survivors of the Quebec City mosque shooting and families of the victims began arriving before 8 a.m. Friday to fill the public seats in court for a decision that could bring a measure of finality to a community still struggling to close the wounds of the 2017 massacre.
The sentencing of Alexandre Bissonnette by Quebec Superior Court Judge François Huot is being closely watched for its legal repercussions, since the 29-year-old faces the possibility of an unprecedented 150 years in jail without the chance of parole.
For relatives of the victims and Quebec City’s wider Muslim community, the sentence could also bring some closure to a courtroom drama that has been both painful and cathartic. Some of the children and widows of six murdered men began taking seats in the front row of the courtroom on Friday, after passing through extensive security screening like all those attending proceedings.
More to come.