Côte d’Ivoire sentences 11 to life in prison for 2016 tourist resort jihadist attack

Eleven people have been sentenced to life in prison by a court in Côte d’Ivoire after being convicted of carrying out an Islamic extremist attack that killed 19 people and injured dozens more on a tourist beach in March 2016.

Of the eleven defendants, all Malians, seven were not present in court to hear the verdict.

The court in Abidjan, the country’s commercial hub, found the four “guilty of the deeds for which they are accused and sentences them to life imprisonment,” Judge Charles Bini announced.

The Ivorian court issued an international arrest warrant for Kounta Dallah, who was described as the brains of the attack in Grand Bassam.

The 45-minute bloodbath in the Grand-Bassam resort area was perpetrated by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and were the first extremist attack of its kind in Côte d’Ivoire, one of West Africa’s economic powerhouses, and one of the bloodiest in the region. Three men wielding assault rifles stormed the beach in the resort town 40 kilometers east of Abidjan popular with Europeans, before attacking hotels and restaurants.

The long-awaited verdict was read by the judge in a packed, somber courtroom where 18 defendants have been on trial since November. Only four of the accused were physically present, each of whom was sentenced to life in prison. Seven of the accused were found innocent, said Bini.

The families of the victims were awarded varying compensation of up to $81,000. The victims that day included 11 Ivorians, four French, one German, one Lebanese, one Macedonian and one Nigerian. Survivors of the attack were satisfied with the verdict but said they wouldn’t get closure until everyone was caught.