France’s Le Pen Sentenced To Prison, Banned From Running In Election
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
PARIS/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – France’s fiercely anti-immigration and populist politician Marine Le Pen pledged to fight for her political life after being convicted of embezzlement by a French court and barred from running in the next election in 2027.
She and her lawyer vowed to appeal the ruling.
Judges at the Paris criminal court found Le Pen and her National Rally party guilty of diverting 4.4 million euros ($ 4.8 million) in European Union funds to finance activities related to their domestic agenda.
Le Pen, 56, was sentenced to two years in prison and given an immediate five-year election ban, complicating her ambitions of replacing President Emmanuel Macron.
It came as a significant setback for both Le Pen and her National Rally, seen as far-right by observers after past antisemitic rhetoric uttered by the party’s late founder, Jean Louis Marie Le Pen.
“The rule of law has been totally violated by this decision,” Marine Le Pen said in an interview. “I didn’t expect the judges would go that far against the democratic process.”
Le Pen claimed that the ruling was a deliberate effort to prevent her from gaining the presidency.
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In a Sunday poll for the weekly Journal du Dimanche, between 34 percent and 37 percent of those surveyed said they planned to vote for her in the first round of France’s two-step presidential election process, more than 10 points clear of her nearest rival.
Observers have drawn parallels with the U.S.
President Donald J. Trump won a second term with what he viewed as politically motivated criminal cases hanging over him.
Like Le Pen, he has made trenchant opposition to immigration a cornerstone of his program.
Le Pen’s conviction had broader implications for leaders who participated in a recent “Make Europe Great Again” gathering to broaden further support for nation-first right-wing and even far-right parties.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a close ally of her and Trump, was among the first European leaders to condemn Monday’s court ruling. “Je suis Marine,” Orban said on social media platform X following the court ruling in solidarity with Le Pen.
Russia also condemned the sentencing of Le Pen and the banning from running for office for five years, calling it a politically motivated attack on democratic norms.
“More and more European capitals are going down the path of violating democratic norms,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“We do not interfere in France’s internal affairs and never have,” Peskov added. “But our observation of European capitals shows that they do not shy away from stepping outside the bounds of democracy in the political process.”
Critics have questioned Russia’s democratic norms after it invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
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