French National Rally leader Marine Le Pen has been sentenced to prison after a French court found her guilty of embezzlement. Le Pen is now banned from running for office for five years and faces a four-year prison sentence and a c€100,000 fine.
Judge Benedicte de Perthuis said Le Pen had been “at the heart” of the embezzlement of European Union funds to pay staff. “It was established that all these people were actually working for the party, that their (EU) lawmaker had not given them any tasks,” he ruled.
“The investigations also showed that these were not administrative errors … but embezzlement within the framework of a system put in place to reduce the party’s costs,” the judge said.
The investigation into the misuse of funds began nearly a decade ago.
Prior to the ruling, Le Pen said she was “completely innocent of the facts with which I am accused. Therefore, if my guilt is pronounced, I will use the rule of law to be able to defend my innocence again.”
National Party President Jordan Bardella said of the ruling: “Today, it is not only Marine Le Pen who is being unjustly condemned: it is French democracy that is being executed.”
The former Republican leader, Eric Ciotti, declared the decision is “not a simple malfunction, it is a system of power capture that systematically excludes any candidate too far to the right who is capable of winning, from François Fillon to Marine Le Pen.”
“Despite its maneuvers, the political-judicial system in place and the architect of French decline will not prevent victory and alternation to the right, within the union,” Ciotti added.
A January poll found Le Pen as the top contender to replace French President Emanuel Macron, with 34% support. Bardella followed closely at 33%.
