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Le Pen Convicted of Embezzlement... French Judiciary Deals Blow to Right-Wing Leader
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Banning Le Pen from running for elections for five years with immediate effect poses an existential challenge to the far-right movement in France and raises questions about the future leadership and p
A Paris court on Monday issued a ruling convicting far-right leader Marine Le Pen of embezzling public funds along with eight European MPs from her National Rally party, sentencing her to four years in prison with two years suspended and fining her 100,000 euros.
This ruling comes at a time when opinion polls indicated Le Pen was leading in the anticipated presidential race, which paints a new political landscape in France.
The criminal court in Paris decided that Le Pen is ineligible to run for elections with immediate effect for five years, placing a major obstacle in front of her political ambitions and threatening to deprive her of running in the 2027 presidential elections.
This judicial decision reflects the desire of French institutions to apply the law to all politicians regardless of their status or popularity.
The court president confirmed that "this is about ensuring that elected officials, like all litigants, do not benefit from preferential treatment," while Le Pen left the courtroom without waiting to hear the full verdict and made no statement.
The possibility of declaring her ineligible to run "with immediate effect" was a major concern for Le Pen, even with the possibility of appealing the ruling, as she previously described this scenario as representing "political death" for her.
The court estimated the total financial damages at around 2.9 million euros, considering that the accused European MPs "burdened the European Parliament with the expenses of people who were actually working for the party."
The case revolves around accusations of concluding "fictitious contracts" with parliamentary assistants who were actually working for the party between 2004 and 2016, practices the court considered illegal and an exploitation of public resources.
In November, the prosecution had requested a five-year prison sentence for Le Pen, including two years of enforceable imprisonment subject to modification, and a ban on running for elections for five years.
Opinion polls indicated that Le Pen was poised to lead the first round of presidential elections, obtaining 34 to 37% of voting intentions, although this does not guarantee her final victory after her defeats in 2017 and 2022 in the second round against current President Emmanuel Macron.
The total number of defendants in the case is 28 people, and the accusations involve an amount of approximately 7 million euros ($3.7 million), noting that Le Pen paid 330,000 euros to the European Parliament in 2023, with her party confirming that this does not imply an admission of any misconduct.
Le Pen and the other defendants deny having committed any violations, while these accusations have haunted her and her party for many years, and the current conviction may affect the future of the far-right movement in France and Europe.
