CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand
\nThe Australian white supremacist who murdered 51 people at two New Zealand mosques in a 2019 terrorist attack has filed an appeal for his conviction and life sentence.
\n\u201cAn appeal against convictions and sentence has been filed,\u201d Liz Kennedy, a spokesperson in the Office of the Chief Justice, said on Tuesday.
\nArmed with an arsenal of semi-automatic weapons, Brenton Tarrant attacked Friday worshippers at two mosques in March 2019, livestreaming the killings as he went. His victims were all Muslim and included children, women and the elderly.
\nThe Australian national pleaded guilty to the murder of 51 worshippers, attempted murder of 40 others and one charge of terrorism. He was given the strongest penalty in New Zealand\u2019s modern history \u2013 life in prison, with no chance of parole.
\nLast year, Tarrant\u2019s lawyer Tony Ellis said his client had believed \u201cthe simplest way out was to plead guilty\u201d, which amounted to a plea made under duress.
\nOn Tuesday, Ellis told AFP he had been sacked and was unable to comment further on the case.
\nDuring sentencing in August 2020, Judge Cameron Mander said he was imposing the harshest possible term for Tarrant\u2019s \u201cinhuman\u201d actions.
\n\u201cYour crimes are so wicked, that even if you are detained until you die it will not exhaust the requirements of punishment and denunciation,\u201d Mander said at the time.
\nAfter Tarrant\u2019s 17-minute livestream of his mosque attacks, Facebook said it removed a staggering 1.5 million videos that proliferated within the first 24 hours showing the harrowing viral footage.
\nThe attacks prompted New Zealand to quickly pass new laws which banned the deadliest types of semi-automatic weapons. In a subsequent buyback scheme, gun owners handed over more than 50,000 weapons to police.
\nThe attacks also prompted global pressure towards social media platforms to prevent or quickly stop future attacks from being live-streamed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand The Australian white supremacist who murdered 51 people at two New Zealand mosques in a 2019 terrorist attack has filed an appeal for his conviction and life sentence. \u201cAn appeal against convictions and sentence has been filed,\u201d Liz Kennedy, a spokesperson in the Office of the Chief Justice, said on Tuesday. Armed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-294054","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n