BRUSSELS, July 5 (Xinhua) -- A Belgian court on Tuesday sentenced a group of terrorist suspects linked to last year's Paris terror attacks up to 16 years in jail.
The three main defendants of the trial, Marouane El Bali, Schofield El Abdi and Mohamed Arshad have been found guilty of belonging to the terrorist group Islamic State (IS) and were sentenced to 16 years in prison. The fourth, Omar Damache, was sentenced to eight years.
Prosecutors said the men standing trial had returned from fighting with IS in Syria and were in constant contact with the group through the leader of the Paris attacks Abdelhamid Abaaoud.
Abaaoud was killed in a November raid in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis.
Pierre Hendrickx, the judge in the case, said the cell had intended to target Zaventem airport in Brussels as early as 2015. The airport ended up being one of the targets of the March 22, 2016 attacks in Belgium.
The terrorist cell was dismantled by police during a raid on Jan. 15, 2015 in Verviers, an eastern Belgian town close to German borders. A total of 16 suspects were charged in connection with the raid, but nine remain at large.
During the operation, police found "ingredients" to manufacture 6 kg of explosives.
