Three men were jailed for between eight and 13 years on Wednesday for their links to the terrorists who murdered the Catholic priest Jacques Hamel during morning mass in his church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in northern France in July 2016.
Hamel was officiating at the service with four people - including two nuns - when teenagers Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Nabil-Petitjean burst into the Eglise Saint-Etienne brandishing knives.
They forced the 85-year-old onto his knees and repeatedly slashed at him.
Police shot the two 19-year-olds as they tried to escape after holding the rest of the group hostage.
Hamel's body was later found with 18 stab wounds. The Islamic Sate group claimed responsibility for the attack.
On Wednesday at the special assize court in Paris, Yassine Sebaihia, Farid Khelil and Jean-Philippe Steven Jean-Louis, who had been held on remand since the assault, were found guilty of having helped or encouraged the attack.
Sentences
Jean-Louis, 25, was jailed for 13 years, Khelil, Nabil-Petitjean's cousin, received 10 years and Sebaihia was imprisoned for eight years.
During nearly a month of hearings, the court was told that the three men did not play a role in carrying out the assault on 26 July but were part of the attackers’ entourage.
The trio admitted that they voluntarily associated with individuals who were preparing to commit terrorist crimes.
But those ties did not define them as terrorists, the court heard.
Just before sentencing, 36-year-old Khelil told the court: "I carry ... I don't know if I can say it ... I carry my cross. I carry my pain.
"I have changed. These almost six years in prison have not been in vain. I will do everything to be a good father, a good citizen, a good man. Like Father Hamel was."
A fourth defendant, Rachid Kassim, who is presumed to have died in Iraq in 2017, was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment.
Dominique Lebrun, the Archbishop of Rouen, whose diocese includes the Eglise Saint-Etienne, said in a statement on Wednesday night: “Justice was served. The court had to convict these men for the good of society.”
