A native of Uzbekistan was sentenced to ten life terms for the terrorist attack in New York

The Islamist extremist, a native of Uzbekistan, who in 2017 deliberately ran a truck over pedestrians and cyclists on a bike path in New York, was sentenced in the United States to eight consecutive life terms.

Federal District Judge Vernon Broderick issued a harsh sentence: Saifullo Saipov was sentenced to life in prison for each of the eight victims he killed, as well as consecutive 260 years and two additional concurrent life sentences.

Before the sentencing, Saipov spoke Uzbek through an interpreter for almost an hour, justifying his actions and showing no sign of remorse. After the defendant had finished, the sister of one of his victims screamed in the courtroom, “The only thing the devil did here is what you did.”

Before passing the verdict, the judge addressed Saipov: “The behavior in this case is one of the worst, if not the worst, that I have ever seen, both in terms of the impact it has on the victims and the apparent unrepentant nature of the defendant.” . You did not and do not care about their pain and suffering, which was the direct result of your heartless and cowardly actions.”

A total of 21 survivors of the attack and family members of the victims testified about how the attack changed their lives. Nineteen people spoke in court, and two statements were read into the minutes, CNN notes.

Recall that exactly on Halloween – October 31, 2017 – 29-year-old Saifullo Saipov, who arrived in the United States from Uzbekistan in 2010 on a green card, crashed into people on a bicycle path on the West Side of Manhattan in a rented truck, and then drove his car into a school bus, authorities said. The attacker exited the truck brandishing a shotgun and a paintball gun before being shot by an NYPD officer and taken into custody. Eight dead and more than a dozen injured, the attack is the deadliest terrorist attack in New York since the attacks on the World Trade Center skyscrapers on September 11, 2001.

As far as is known, Saipov was very critical of American policy towards Israel. After the attack, he stated that he acted on behalf of ISIS (a terrorist organization banned in Russia – “MK”)

Most of the dead are from Argentina, two Americans and a Belgian also died.

In January of this year, the jury found Saipov guilty on all 28 charges against him. At the sentencing stage in federal court in Manhattan, the jury told the judge that they could not reach a unanimous decision in favor of the death penalty on any of the nine charges against him that carry capital punishment.

It was the first federal death penalty case brought under the Biden administration, which introduced a moratorium on executions, CNN notes. The administration’s second death penalty case against a man accused of killing 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 will begin soon.

The victims’ statements in court were emotional and alternately full of tears and anger. Belgian tourist Marion Van Riet, who lost both legs in the attack, asked to be driven past Saipov in her wheelchair before speaking. “Mr. Saipov, I am one of your victims. Both my legs were amputated and I will never be able to walk like you,” she said. “I have a question for you. Are you still convinced that your cruel act towards innocent people was right? Do you still feel like a soldier of ISIS (a terrorist organization banned in Russia – “MK”) and are proud of your act? I really hope not.”

Saipov is expected to serve a life sentence at the ADX Federal Bureau of Prisons facility in Florence, Colorado, in solitary confinement for at least 22 hours a day, his lawyers said during the trial.

The verdict was in line with what federal prosecutors had requested and was in full compliance with the sentencing guidelines for his 28 counts, CNN notes.

“Because Saipov deliberately committed the most heinous crime imaginable, for which he expressed no remorse, he does not deserve leniency. Only the maximum penalty for each count will reflect the unimaginable harm done and send a proper signal that terrorist attacks against innocent civilians will be punished as severely as the law allows,” prosecutors said in a statement filed with the court before sentencing.