MONTREAL -- Lawyers for the man who shot dead six men at a Quebec City mosque will argue their client should receive a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years.
Alexandre Bissonnette pleaded guilty in March to six charges of first-degree murder and six of attempted murder. He's therefore liable to face consecutive sentences, which could mean up to 150 years in prison.
His legal team says 150 years in prison is equivalent to sentencing Bissonnette to death by incarceration.
Bissonnette's lawyers, Charles-Olivier Gosselin and Jean-Claude Gingras, told trial judge Francois Huot on March 28 that they planned to challenge the part of the Criminal Code that allows judges to hand out consecutive sentences to people convicted of multiple murders.
Their challenge, which was tabled in court this week, argues that part of the Criminal Code is unconstitutional and violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Sentencing arguments for Bissonnette, 28, are scheduled to begin April 10.
Gosselin and Gingras are scheduled to argue on behalf of their motion to challenge the law in June.
The charges against Bissonnette were related to the shooting attack at the Islamic Cultural Centre in which he killed six worshippers: Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42; Abdelkrim Hassane, 41; Khaled Belkacemi, 60; Aboubaker Thabti, 44; Azzeddine Soufiane, 57; and Ibrahima Barry, 39.
The counts of attempted murder involved five people who were struck by bullets and a sixth charge encompassing the other people present at the mosque.
