Quebec’s attorney general and the province’s prosecutor’s office are asking Canada’s highest court to review the sentence of a young man who killed six worshippers in a Quebec City mosque on Jan. 29, 2017.
In 2019, Alexandre Bissonnette, was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 40 years after pleading guilty to six charges of premeditated murder in the deadly shooting rampage that also injured 19 others.
However, last November, Bissonnette’s lawyers successfully argued in the Quebec Court of Appeal that the sentence was “cruel and unusual” and got the appeal court to reduce the original 40-year parole eligibility period to 25 years.
In a joint statement released Friday, Quebec’s attorney general and the province’s prosecutor’s office said they plan to challenge that ruling in the Supreme Court of Canada.
If the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case, it could also affect sentences of several other convicted murderers who have received consecutive life sentences under the 2011 Ending Sentence Discounts for Multiple Murders Act introduced under the previous Conservative government.
For example, Justin Bourque is serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for 75 years for killing three federal officers in Moncton, New Brunswick, in 2014.
Conservative Party MP Gerard Deltell applauded the decision by Quebec authorities, pointing out that despite their initial opposition to the 2011 legislation on tougher sentences for multiple murders, the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not repealed the sentencing guidelines.
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