A Canadian man who gunned down six members of a Quebec City mosque in 2017 was on Friday sentenced to life in prison, with the judge saying he would be eligible for parole after serving 40 years behind bars.

Alexandre Bissonnette, 29, pleaded guilty last year to six counts of first-degree murder and six counts of attempted murder for the attack.

Justice Franśois Huot said a life sentence with eligibility for parole between 35 and 42 years into the sentence was appropriate, and rejected calls by prosecutors to impose the harshest sentence.

The January 2017 shooting, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denounced as a terrorist attack, provoked debate over the treatment of new arrivals.