Prominent Right-Wing European Politician BANNED From Running For Political Office

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Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s right-wing National Rally (RN) party and frontrunner in the next election, was found guilty of embezzling European Union funds.

She has been barred from running for political office for five years.

WATCH:

Per CNN:

A Paris court also handed Le Pen, who was the frontrunner for the next election, a four-year prison sentence with two years suspended, to be served under house arrest, and a €100,000 ($108,000) fine. Le Pen will file an appeal, her lawyer said.

Her party, National Rally (RN), was ordered to pay €2 million in fines for the €4.1 million that it was accused of embezzling.

The court’s presiding judge, Bénédicte de Perthuis, said Le Pen’s actions amounted to a “serious and lasting attack on the rules of democratic life in Europe, but especially in France.” She said Le Pen’s immediate ban on standing for office was tied to “democratic public unrest” that would result from the election of a person convicted of embezzlement.

But the decision itself looks set to spark significant unrest. Jordan Bardella, Le Pen’s protégé who succeeded her as RN’s president, said it was not only Le Pen “who is being unjustly condemned: it is French democracy that is being executed.”

Marion Maréchal, Le Pen’s niece and a Member of the European Parliament for a rival far-right party, said her aunt had “led our side on the path to victory. This is her only guilt, and that is why she is condemned.”

“France is sending le Pen to jail and barring her from running?! Are they just trying to prove @JDVance was right about everything?” Donald Trump Jr. commented.

CBS News reports:

Marine Le Pen, the figurehead of the ascendant far-right political movement in France, was hit with a non-custodial prison sentence and barred from running in elections for five years on Monday as a court found her guilty of embezzling European Union funds to pay members of her National Rally party’s staff. In handing down the sentence, the judge said the public office ban would take effect immediately and Le Pen would not be able to appeal, which means she will not be able to run for the French presidency in 2027.

“The court took into consideration, in addition to the risk of reoffending, the major disturbance of public order if a person already convicted… was a candidate in the presidential election,” judge Benedicte de Perthuis, was quoted as saying by the French news agency AFP.

De Perthuis also sentenced Le Pen to four years in prison, but said that part of her sentence would be served as house arrest, with her wearing an electronic tag, not in a prison. The judge suspended two of the four years on the prison sentence. He also fined her more than $100,000.

Both the fine and the prison sentence were subject to appeal.

Rodolphe Bosselut, Le Pen’s lawyer, said he was “appalled” by the court’s decision, calling it “extremely scandalous” and vowing to launch an appeal against the guilty verdict. While the election ban will remain in effect, the house arrest and fine will be suspended during the appeals process, according to The Associated Press.



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