A French court found Marine Le Pen guilty on Monday in an embezzlement case. It was not immediately announced what her sentence might be and how the verdict could affect the far-right leader’s political future.
The future of far-right leader Marine Le Pen – and France’s political landscape – after the court hands down a sentence on charges of embezzling money from the European Parliament – will be decided this Monday, the Guardian writes.
Prosecutors have asked that Le Pen (who has been a presidential candidate for the National Rally three times) be fined 300,000 euros, sentenced to prison and prevented from being or seeking to be in political office for the next five years.
The Paris prosecutor requested a five-year prison sentence and a five-year ban from holding public office for the far-right leader, in a trial where she and 24 others are accused of embezzling EU funds.
The trial, which comes nearly a decade after the first investigations began, threatens to undermine the National Rally’s (RN) efforts to “polish” its image ahead of the 2027 presidential election, which many believe she could win.
Le Pen would not be able to run for office even if she appeals the verdict. Because of this, she said that “the prosecutor is actually seeking her political death”.
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“The law applies to everyone,” prosecutor Nicolas Baret told the court in November, as Le Pen sat in the front row of the dock, the Guardian reports.
He also demanded a five-year prison sentence for Le Pen, calling for at least two years of that to be a “convertible” prison sentence, meaning there would be a possibility of partial release.
“I think the prosecutor’s desire is to deprive the French of the opportunity to vote for whomever they want,” Le Pen later said.
The alleged system of fake jobs, which was first noticed in 2015, involves contracts for parliamentary assistants between 2004 and 2016.
Prosecutors claimed that the assistants worked exclusively for the party, outside of parliament.
Speaking at the trial last month, Le Pen said she was innocent.
“I absolutely do not feel that I have committed the slightest irregularity, or the slightest illegal act,” she said.
European Parliament authorities said the legislature lost three million euros through the hiring scheme. RN returned one million euros, which it says is not an admission of guilt.
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Source: N1, Photo: Tanjug / AP /Thibault Camus