Ineligible! Sentence against Le Pen causes crisis in the far right

Court ordered prison for Le Pen, a millionaire fine and five years without elections; Bardella can be his political successor

A French court imposed a prison sentence on the far-right leader Marine Le Pen and prevented her from running public office after considering her guilty of misappropriation of the European Union. The Paris Court has ruled that Le Pen used more than 3 million euros ($ 3.3 million) from the European Parliament to pay members of his party, the National Rally (RN).

In the sentence, the chief judge announced that the nationalist politician would not be allowed to run for a position for five years, with immediate effect. A sentence of four years in prison was also imposed, with two years suspended and the remaining two to be fulfilled using an electronic label instead of in custody.

She was also ordered to pay a fine of 100,000 euros ($ 108,000), while RN received a fine of 2 million euros ($ 2.16 million).

“The court took into consideration, in addition to the risk of recurrence, the great disturbance of public order if a person already convicted … was a candidate in the presidential election,” said judge Benedicte de Perthuis.

The decision threatens Le Pen from the 2027 presidential race, in which she is currently the favorite, according to opinion polls.

The nationalist leader accused prosecutors of seeking her “political death.” She is expected to resort to the decision, preparing the scenario for a potentially long legal battle.

She left court before the end of the sentence and was taken away.

New far right face?

“If Marine Le Pen can’t compete, it would change the French far right scenario and her perspectives,” said Natacha Butler of Al Jazeera, from the Paris Court. “Most likely Jordan Bardella takes his place, the current president of RN.

“But he is much younger and not the same kind of dominant force as Marine Le Pen,” she added. “He is not the figure that so many in France know, and then some say he would probably have more difficulty in the 2027 race.

“Others say a new face can be what is needed.”

Guilt verdicts were also delivered against eight other RN members who acted as legislators in the European Parliament when the funds were diverted, as well as 12 parliamentary assistants.

The nationalists’ reaction in support of the RN leader was fast.

Bardella said French democracy was “executed” with the “unfair” verdict.

“Today it was not just Marine Le Pen that was unfairly condemned: it was the French democracy that was killed,” he said.

‘Democratic standards’

Le Pen’s radical rival Eric Zemmour criticized the sentence and insisted that the RN leader has the right to present herself to the electorate.

Kremlin also criticized the decision, despite Moscow’s common demand that other countries do not interfere with their internal affairs.

“Increasingly European capitals are following the path of violation of democratic norms,” ​​spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who calls himself an EU’s “patriotic” state leader, offered Le Pen support, publishing in X: “Je Suis Marine!” (“I’m Marine.”)

The Deputy Prime Minister of Italy far right, Matteo Salvini, seemed to have confused his geography by labeling the verdict as “a statement of war by Brussels.”

“I hope she wins the appeal and becomes president of France,” said Dutch leader of far right Geert Wilders.

However, the MEF Daniel Freund, who chairs the anti -corruption working group in the European Parliament, noted that the case against Le Pen was the largest case of fraud in the history of the European Parliament.

“The French judiciary shows that the rule of law applies to all, regardless of research numbers,” he said.

With information from Al Jazeera and News Agencies