French ministers condemn threats to judges in Marine Le Pen case

 

French ministers condemn threats to judges in Marine Le Pen case

 

Senior figures also reject claim verdict against Le Pen on embezzlement charges was ‘political and partisan’

 

Kim Willsher in Paris

Tue 1 Apr 2025 16.49 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/01/marine-le-pen-ban-political-and-partisan-says-french-far-right-leader-jordan-bardella

 

French ministers have condemned threats against the judges who convicted the far-right leader Marine Le Pen and banned her from public office for five years – threatening her 2027 presidential run – and rejected accusations the verdict was “political and partisan”.

 

France’s prime minister, François Bayrou, told the Assemblée nationale the trial judges had his “unconditional support” after they found Le Pen guilty of embezzlement charges, throwing France into political chaos.

 

Rémy Heitz, public prosecutor at the court of cassation, France’s highest court, said the “highly personalised” attacks were “unacceptable” and that any threats may be subject to criminal prosecution.

 

“Justice is not political; this decision is not a political decision but a legal one rendered by three independent, impartial judges, in accordance with the law,” Heitz said.

 

Virulent threats and insults against the president of the court, Bénédicte de Perthuis, one of three trial judges, began on social media almost immediately after the verdict was announced on Monday. Menacing posts giving the judges’ full names, photographs and a part of de Perthuis’ address were immediately condemned by French legal bodies.

 

Gérald Darmanin, the justice minister, said: “In a democracy, it is unacceptable for people to physically threaten judges. When we call for the rule of law it includes all free and independent magistrates in this country.” He called on far-right MPs to support the threatened magistrates.

 

Darmanin said he hoped that if Le Pen appealed against her conviction – as she has said she will – a new trial “can be organised within as reasonable a timeframe as possible”, but added it was up to the courts to fix a date.

 

The French court of appeal said on Tuesday that it should be able to provide a decision in summer 2026.

 

Jordan Bardella, 29, the RN president, also called on supporters not to threaten or insult the judges. “This is unacceptable and we condemn it,” he said.

 

Hours after the verdict, RN officials went on the offensive, giving interviews, press conferences, planning a leafleting campaign and setting up a petition that crashed the party’s website.

 

The RN is reported to be planning a major rally in support of Le Pen in Paris either this weekend on the next and is calling for nationwide demonstrations against the court’s decision to ban her from public office for five years, seemingly wrecking her hopes of succeeding Emmanuel Macron as president .

 

Le Pen and 24 others from RN, including party officials, employees, MEPs and assistants, were convicted of embezzling millions in European parliament funds as part of a fake jobs scam.

 

The trial last November heard how the party took money for EU parliamentary assistants but spent it on paying staff in France. None of the accused benefited personally from the embezzlement and all denied the charges.

 

Le Pen, 56, was also given a four-year prison term, two years suspended and two to be served wearing an electronic bracelet. The sentence will be postponed until the appeal process is exhausted, but the five-year ban on standing for public office takes immediate effect.

 

Le Pen went on television to denounce what she said was the court’s “political decision” and vowed to “pursue all legal avenues” to be able to stand in 2027. An appeal by Le Pen will lead to a new trial that she hopes will overturn the conviction and public office ban in time to campaign for the presidency.

 

Bardella said French people “must be outraged” after what he called a “disproportionate, political and partisan” judgment that would rob them of a voice in the election.

 

He said the ban would deprive millions of French voters of their democratic right to put Le Pen in the Elysée Palace and called for “peaceful, democratic protests” across France as part of a “people’s mobilisation”.

 

Bardella,who is seen as the RN’s plan B if Le Pen fails, said he refused to consider stepping into her shoes as a presidential candidate and pledged his loyalty to her.

 

“Marine Le Pen has given me everything in politics,” he said. “The least I can do is to fight with her to the end. We work together, hand in hand and in total confidence.

 

“I have total loyalty. Those who think they have killed off the RN and put us out of the game will not succeed.

 

“If you are in politics, you are not above the law, but neither are you below it.”

 

Bardella added that he hoped the appeal court hearing could be held in time to “correct the error” of the lower court so that Le Pen could stand in 2027, and said RN voters were being ignored as “second-class” citizens.

 

“We are not fashos, racists or far right. We are reasonable people who are patriotic, who love our country and we are fighting for the French people. We are fighting to get into power, not to remain in opposition.”