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'Carlos the Jackal' victim seeks justice
02:33 - Source: CNN

Story highlights

This is a second life sentence for "Carlos the Jackal"

His real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez

The attacks took place in 1982 and 1983 and killed 11 people

Ramirez was captured in 1994 in Sudan after two decades on the run

CNN  — 

“Carlos the Jackal,” once among the world’s most wanted fugitives, has been sentenced to life in prison for his role in a series of fatal bombings in the 1980s, a French court said.

The 62-year-old, whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, was on trial for his role in the attacks on two trains, a train station and a newspaper office in France in 1982 and 1983. The bombings killed 11 and injured more than 100. He was sentenced late Thursday.

The Venezuelan-born revolutionary has been serving a life sentence in France since 1997, when he was convicted for the shooting deaths of two French secret agents and an informant in 1975.

Ramirez, who was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, first made headlines in 1975 when he led an attack on an OPEC meeting in Vienna that took at least 60 hostage, including 11 oil ministers. He was nicknamed “Carlos the Jackal” by the press, a reference to the principal character and assassin in Frederick Forsyth’s novel “The Day of the Jackal.”

He was nicknamed “Carlos the Jackal” by the press, a reference to the principal character and assassin in Frederick Forsyth’s novel “The Day of the Jackal.”

After two decades on the run, Ramirez was captured in 1994 in Sudan and taken to Paris in a sack.

A seven-judge terrorism panel will rule after a six week trial.