Conviction of Marine Le Pen for financial misappropriation
French justice has found the leader of the National Rally guilty of misappropriating resources allocated to European Parliament staff members. The sanctions include a ban from public office, a partially custodial sentence with electronic monitoring and a financial penalty of 100,000 euros.
Conviction of Marine Le Pen for financial misappropriation
An appeals court in France has delivered an unfavourable ruling against the leader of the far-right National Rally party. Marine Le Pen was found responsible for misappropriating budget allocations intended for assistants within the Strasbourg Parliament to pay staff working for her political party.
The court imposed a sentence of three years' imprisonment upon her. Of this period, twelve months must be served in custody, with an electronic monitoring device on the wrist. The remaining twenty-four months are suspended. In addition, she was hit with a financial penalty of one hundred thousand euros, equivalent to more than two million four hundred thousand Czech crowns.
The judges' ruling also bars her from any public office for forty-five months. Part of this suspension of civic rights, namely thirty months, is deferred. This provision could theoretically leave her free to stand in the presidential election of the following year. Nevertheless, she had previously made clear that she would not accept wearing a location monitoring bracelet. A televised appearance was scheduled for that very evening to discuss her future political prospects.
Source: Google News CZ — Crime (cs)