The sentence, issued last Monday, declared it guilty of embezzling funds from the European Parliament and condemned it to a partially suspended prison sentence.
The French ultra -right leader, Marine Le Penhe described this Sunday as a “political decision” the judicial sentence that prevents him from presenting himself to public office, and promised not to lower his arms despite the adverse ruling. “ I will not give up, ”he said before a multitude of supporters that congregated in the Vauban Square in Paris, In front of the golden dome of the invalids, where Napoleon rests.
The sentence, issued last Monday, declared it guilty of embezzling funds from the European Parliament and sentenced it to a partially suspended prison sentence, in addition to the immediate disqualification to exercise public office. For Le Pen, the ruling is nothing more than a “witch hunt.”
In front of a place full of French flags and support shouts, his right hand, Jordan Bardella, said that the judicial decision seeks to “eliminate it from the presidential race” facing 2027. “We do not discredit all the judges, but this conviction is a direct attack on democracy and a wound for millions of French patriots,” said the young 29 -year -old leader.
The extreme right sought to show political muscle after the rulingwhile international figures such as former US president Donald Trump and Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán expressed their support for Le Pen. Trump described the process as a “witch hunt for European leftists” who use justice “to censor their political opponents.”
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In parallel, leftist groups and the ruling party organized countermarkers. In Saint-Denis, a labor suburb of northern Paris, the Presidential Renaissance party brought together several leaders, including former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. There, Attal said that “whoever steals, pays” and denounced an “unprecedented interference” in French politics by foreign leaders.
The current Prime Minister François Bayrou and former Government Chief Édouard Philippe also participated in that actboth possible candidates for the presidential ones of 2027.
From the Plaza de la República, in another act headed by the radical left and the environmentalists, Manuel Bompard (France Insumisa) warned that “the extreme right showed its true face” and accused it of representing “a danger to democracy and the rule of law.”
Despite his conviction, Le Pen could still compete in the next elections whether the Paris Court of Appeal revishes or modifies the sentence on time. In the surveys, the national group leader appears as the favorite for a first round, although it does not yet overcome the threshold to impose itself without ballot.
Before the rally in Paris, Le Pen went by video call to the congressmen of the Italian league, Matteo Salvini’s party, and said he will follow “the example of Martin Luther King” in the defense of civil rights. “Today, the civil rights that are at stake are those of the French,” he said.
Source: Ambito
