A self-proclaimed white supremacist, Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 Muslim worshippers at two Christchurch mosques in March 2019 has filed an appeal against his conviction and whole-life sentence.No date for the hearing has been set, a spokesperson for the Court of Appeal in the capital Wellington told multiple media outlets in New Zealand on Tuesday. The grounds for appeal are not yet known.
Tarrant pleaded guilty in March 2020 to 51 charges of murder, 40 of attempted murder and a charge of committing a terrorist attack.
The attacks on the Al Noor mosque and the Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch were filmed by the gunman and live-streamed on social media.
His sentencing marked both the first time New Zealand had issued a sentence with no chance of parole and the first time anyone had been sentenced for offending against New Zealand’s Terrorism Suppression Act.
The 2019 attack led to major gun reforms in the country, and led to the Christchurch Call, an initiative to tackle terrorist and extremist content online.
