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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/28/alexandre-bissonnette-canada-mosque-shooting-guilty-plea
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| Canadian student pleads guilty to killing six men in mosque shooting | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| A former Canadian university student has changed his mind and pleaded guilty to killing six men who were praying in a Quebec City mosque in January 2017, averting a trial in one of the country’s rare mass shootings. | |
| Members of the city’s Muslim community who were in the courtroom sobbed on Wednesday as the judge confirmed Alexandre Bissonnette’s guilty plea and declared him guilty on six counts of first-degree murder and six counts of attempted murder. | |
| More than 50 people were at the Quebec City Islamic cultural center, also known as the Grande Mosquée de Quebec, when the shooting began during evening prayers. | |
| Six men aged between 39 and 60 were killed and another 18 wounded. | |
| Bissonnette had told the court on Monday afternoon that he wanted to change his plea, but superior court justice Francois Huot ordered a psychiatric assessment of the accused to ensure he fully understood the consequences. Huot also placed a publication ban on the proceedings. | |
| Bissonnette said: “In my heart, it’s the decision I have wanted to make in order to avoid a trial and for the victims to not have to relive this tragedy,” he told the court on Monday. | |
| When the judge asked him if he was fully aware of what he was doing, Bissonnette replied: “Yes.” | |
| Huot asked Bissonnette whether he knew he would be getting a life sentence and he answered: “I understand.” | |
| Huot also asked him if he understood he could receive consecutive sentences, meaning 150 years of prison. “I know,” Bissonnette replied, in a low voice. | |
| Jury selection had been scheduled to start on 3 April and the trial to last two months. Sentencing arguments will now take place at a later date. | |
| Amir Belkacemi, whose 60-year-old father Khaled Belkacemi was killed, said he was glad that the community would be spared the trauma of reliving the attack during a trial. | |
| “That the trial won’t have to take place, it’s a good thing for us, it’s a good thing for everyone in the community,” said Amir Belkacemi, the son of victim Khaled Belkacemi, told reporters. “Very relieved.” | |
| At the time of the attack, Bissonnette was a student in the social sciences faculty at Laval University. He was described by aquiantances as a “far-right and an ultra-nationalist white supremacist”, and a supporter of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Donald Trump. | |
| Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, initially described the shooting as a terrorist attack, although prosecutors did not charge Bissonnette with terrorism. | Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, initially described the shooting as a terrorist attack, although prosecutors did not charge Bissonnette with terrorism. |
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