Paris
prosecutor seeks jail and public office ban for Marine Le Pen
Request in
embezzlement trial threatens to undermine National Rally’s efforts to polish
image before 2027 polls
Angelique
Chrisafis and agencies
Thu 14 Nov
2024 09.43 CET
A Paris
prosecutor has requested a five-year prison sentence and a five-year ban from
public office for the far-right leader Marine Le Pen, at a trial in which she
and 24 others are accused of embezzling EU funds.
The trial,
which comes almost a decade after initial investigations started, threatens to
undermine her National Rally (RN) party’s efforts to polish its image before
the 2027 presidential election, which many believe she could win.
On
Wednesday, the Paris prosecutor requested a €300,000 (£249,439) fine, five
years in prison and an ineligibility sentence against Le Pen, with provisional
execution – meaning the ban on running for public office would take immediate
effect.
If the court
finds her guilty of the charges with this provisional execution, Le Pen will
not be able to run in elections even if she appeals against the judgment.
The trial
runs until 27 November, after which the judges will retire to consider their
verdict and consider what sentence to hand down, taking into account the
prosecutor’s requests. The verdict is likely to be announced in early 2025.
People march
in a line holding a long banner in front of them that reads: 'L'extrême droite
est l'ennemie mortelle des LGBTI'
Le Pen, the
RN party, and 24 others – party officials, employees, former lawmakers and
parliamentary assistants – are accused of using European parliament money to
pay staff in France who were working for their party, which at the time was
called the National Front.
The RN, like
other far-right parties across the continent, is riding high after a strong
performance in European elections in June.
“The law
applies to all”, the prosecutor Nicolas Barret told the court, as Le Pen sat in
the front row of the defendants’ benches, adding that the ban would “prohibit
the defendants from running in future local or national elections”.
He demanded
a five-year jail sentence for Le Pen, calling for at least two years of that to
be a “convertible” custodial sentence, meaning there would be a possibility of
partial release.
“I think the
prosecutors’ wish is to deprive the French people of the ability to vote for
who they want,” Le Pen later said.
The alleged
fake jobs system, which was first flagged in 2015, covers parliamentary
assistant contracts between 2004 and 2016. Prosecutors say the assistants
worked exclusively for the party outside parliament.
Addressing
the trial last month, Le Pen said she was innocent. “I have absolutely no sense
of having committed the slightest irregularity, or the slightest illegal act,”
she said.
Questioned
last month about how exactly she selected her presumed parliamentary aides, and
what their tasks were, Le Pen gave general answers, or said she could not
remember.
If
convicted, Le Pen would be able to lodge an appeal.
European
parliament authorities said the legislature had lost €3m through the jobs
scheme. The RN has paid back €1m, which it says is not an admission of guilt.
Reuters and
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
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