What Was Marine Le Pen Found ‘Guilty’ Of?
To bar Marine Le Pen from running for the French presidency, a lower court convicted her of “misappropriation of public funds,” not the other way around. It wasn’t the offense she is accused of that led to her being stripped of her right to ineligibility, but it was invented to justify the sentence.
Strangely, no one in the political class saw fit to point out that the presidency of the European Parliament has changed its understanding of the role of MEPs and now considers those who persist in practicing their original role as MEPs to be criminals.
Marine Le Pen was sentenced on March 31, 2025, for “misappropriation of public funds” to four years’ imprisonment, two of which were suspended, a €200,000 fine, and a five-year ban on election with provisional execution, i.e., before any possible appeal. Twenty-four other National Rally officials and the party itself were convicted.
The French political class was immediately divided between those who welcomed the presidential favorite being ousted from the race and those who deplored it. Naturally, no one dared to speak out directly, but all either insisted that they supported the “rule of law” or denounced the “tyranny of judges.”
Behind this reaction to a historic decision by three judges independent of political power, but who clearly understood the prosecution’s demands (i.e., the government’s point of view), no one dares to address the underlying issue of the dispute between France and the pres
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