Marine Le Pen sentenced to one year of supervised residence for misappropriation of European funds
The Paris Court of Appeal has upheld Marine Le Pen's conviction in the fictitious jobs scandal at the European Parliament, imposing one year of supervised residence with an electronic bracelet and ineligibility for 45 months.
Marine Le Pen sentenced to one year of supervised residence for misappropriation of European funds
The Paris Court of Appeal delivered its verdict on Tuesday in the fictitious jobs scandal at the European Parliament, imposing one year of supervised residence on Marine Le Pen with mandatory wearing of an electronic bracelet. The leader of the National Rally is also subject to a prohibition on holding public office for forty-five months, thirty of which are suspended.
The remaining fifteen months of ineligibility could be retroactive to the first-instance decision handed down in March of last year by the criminal court, which would mean they have already elapsed. However, the home detention sentence seriously undermines the candidate's chances of being able to conduct a presidential campaign.
During a television interview last week, she declared that she would not stand in the April 2027 presidential election if she had to remain confined to her home. "When you are a presidential candidate, you must be completely free to move around," she stated, adding that she could not depend on a judge to authorise her movements for campaign rallies.
The appeal trial examined the system put in place between 2004 and 2016, a period during which the far-right party allegedly used European Parliament funds to pay staff who actually worked in France. In addition to the RN's leader, twenty-four former MEPs, assistants, accountants and the political party itself had been found guilty in the first trial.
The court of first instance had initially imposed a five-year ineligibility sentence and four years' imprisonment, two of which were suspended. The defendant and ten other individuals appealed this decision, contesting the existence of an organised misappropriation scheme and claiming that her party had acted in good faith.
The judges nevertheless found that the leader had professionalised a method initiated irregularly by her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, after she succeeded him as head of the movement in 2011. The public prosecutor maintained that the use of community funds for national purposes constituted structured fraud.
Recent opinion polls generally place the radical right in the lead in the first round of the 2027 presidential election, although projections for the second round diverge. A survey conducted in May by Harris Interactive Toluna of more than 1,700 registered voters showed her winning against Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Gabriel Attal or Édouard Philippe. Other studies, however, give the latter the advantage in the event of a head-to-head clash with the nationalist camp.
Source: Euronews
Source: Google News IE — Crime (en)