The man who opened fire during evening prayers at a Quebec City mosque in 2017 has been sentenced to serve 40 years in prison before being eligible for parole. Quebec Superior Court Justice Francois Huot called Alexandre Bissonnette's attack gratuitous and insidious as he handed down the sentence. The Crown recommended that Bissonnette serve six consecutive sentences totalling 150 years. Huot spent nearly six hours reading the 246-page decision. In the end he concluded a sentence of 50 years or more would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Bissonnette was sentenced to concurrent life sentences for five murders, and on the sixth another 15 years was added bringing the total to 40. Six Muslim men between the ages of 39 and 60, were killed when Bissonnette stormed the mosque. Bissonnette pleaded guilty last March to six counts of first-degree murder and six of attempted murder.