A French court has sentenced twoAlgerian men to life imprisonment for a series of bombings in Parisin 1995 that killed eight people and wounded 200 others.
Boualem Bensaid and Smain Ait Ali Belkacem, both 34, are alreadyserving 10-year jail terms in connection with the attacks. They wereconvicted in 1999 of belonging to Algeria's Armed Islamic Group(GIA), a group deemed a "terrorist" organization by both Paris andWashington.
The men were accused of planting three bombs in the Frenchcapital between July and October 1995.
The first and deadliest was on a commuter train at the SaintMichel station in the Latin Quarter, which claimed the eightvictims.
The other two explosions were in a street near the MaisonBlanche metro station and on an underground train near the Museed'Orsay station.
In all there were 11 attacks in the second half of 1995, forwhich the GIA have claimed responsibility.
The campaign petered out after police killed its allegedorganizer, Khaled Kelkal, in a shoot-out near the eastern city ofLyon.
Prosecutor Gino Necchi had asked the special no-jury court forterrorist offenses to give the maximum sentence to both defendants,saying: "The fight against terrorism is the will of the (French)republic's institutions... We fight using criminal law, penal law.They fight using bombs."
The court late Wednesday ordered them both jailed for life. Inaddition, it ruled Bensaid ineligible for parole for 22 years.
AFP