The French rapper MHD, real name Mohamed Sylla, was sentenced to 12 years in jail for his involvement in the murder of a 23-year-old in Paris in 2018. As The Guardian reports, MHD was sentenced alongside five other defendants, who also received jail time for the killing, along with three others who were acquitted. All of them pleaded not guilty. “From the beginning, I have maintained my innocence in this case,” MHD told the court in his final statement “And I will continue to maintain my innocence.”

MHD was sentenced as one of the assailants in the killing of a young man identified as Loic K. On July 5, 2018, Loic K was hit by a black Mercedes belonging to MHD and then beaten and stabbed by approximately a dozen people in the low-income estate of the Cite des Chaufourniers, where MHD worked as a pizza delivery driver. Surveillance footage and witness statements from local residents identified both MHD and the other defendants.

MHD was charged with second-degree murder in January 2019. He was released under judicial supervision in 2020 after spending more than a year-and-a-half in prison. His trial began three weeks ago. MHD and the other defendants have 10 days to appeal their sentences.