A coordinated attack on civilians
On the evening of November 13, 2015, coordinated attacks struck multiple locations in Paris and nearby Saint-Denis, including cafés, restaurants, the Bataclan concert hall and the area around the Stade de France. A total of 130 people were killed.
The attacks generated one of the largest criminal investigations in modern French history. Investigators reconstructed the roles of the attackers, logistics networks, facilitators and people accused of helping prepare or support the operation.
The defendants were not all accused of the same conduct
The eventual trial involved 20 defendants whose alleged roles varied substantially. Some were accused of direct or logistical participation in the attacks, while others faced charges tied to assistance, transport, false documents or criminal associations connected to the operation.
That distinction matters. This archive does not describe every defendant as a gunman, planner or direct killer. Responsibility is stated only in the form established by the court for each defendant.
The ten-month trial
The special assize court trial opened in Paris in September 2021 and lasted nearly ten months. Hundreds of survivors, relatives, investigators and experts gave evidence during proceedings designed to examine both the attacks and the network that enabled them.
On June 29, 2022, the court delivered its criminal judgment. Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member of the attack teams to stand trial, received réclusion criminelle à perpétuité incompressible, France's most severe form of life imprisonment. Other defendants received sentences ranging from shorter prison terms to life imprisonment according to the offenses the court found proved.
Why the judgment is final
No defendant filed an appeal within the statutory deadline. The anti-terrorism prosecutors and the Paris prosecutor general also did not appeal. As a result, the June 29, 2022 criminal judgment became final in July 2022.
A later civil ruling addressed compensation and civil responsibility for harms suffered by victims and other admissible civil parties. That later phase did not reopen the criminal findings.
Current status
The principal criminal trial is final. Salah Abdeslam's incompressible life sentence and the other unappealed convictions remain the controlling criminal judgments. The case is therefore classified as solved / extensively adjudicated, while recognizing that the broader historical record includes dead or absent suspects who were not tried in the same posture as defendants physically present in court.
Timeline
November 13, 2015: coordinated attacks kill 130 people in Paris and Saint-Denis.
2015–2021: investigations in France and several other countries identify attackers, facilitators and suspected network members.
September 2021: the special assize court trial begins in Paris.
June 29, 2022: the court delivers its criminal verdict and sentences.
July 12, 2022: authorities confirm that no party appealed, making the criminal judgment final.
October 25, 2022: the court issues a major civil-liability decision for victims and civil parties.