KEY POINTS:
A French bank robber known as the "jailbreak king" was sentenced to 17 years in jail for an escape in which associates blew up a prison gate and sprayed guards with AK-47 fire. Antonio Ferrara got his nickname after his 2003 escape from the maximum-security Fresnes Prison near Paris, where he was serving time for bank robberies, murder and a previous prison escape in 1998. Eighteen others, including Ferrara's then-lawyer Karim Achoui, were convicted of helping him to escape. Achoui was sentenced to seven years in prison and locked up immediately after the verdict, prompting protests from other lawyers.
