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Marine Le Pen
Convicted of embezzling public funds and banned from running for office, far-right politician Marine Le Pen stood unshaken before a sea of French flags in Paris on Sunday. For 30 years I have fought against injustice, she told the crowd. And I will continue to fight. Thousands of supporters gathered at Place Vauban, near the golden dome of Les Invalides and the tomb of Napoleon, for what was billed as a protest but observers said it had all the markings of a campaign rally. The National Rally, Le Pen's party, organized the event in response to what it calls a politically motivated verdict. But with chants of Marine Prsidente! and They won't steal 2027 from us, the message was clear: this was more than a protest. It was a show of populist defiance aimed squarely at France's institutions. At the heart of that charge stood Jordan Bardella, Le Pen's 29-year-old protg and president of the National Rally. His speech was fiery, accusing France's judges of trying to silence the ...
A French court found Marine Le Pen guilty Monday in an embezzlement case but didn't immediately say what her sentence might be and how it might impact the far-right leader's political future. Le Pen and 24 other officials from her National Rally are accused of having used money intended for European Union parliamentary aides to pay staff who worked for the party between 2004 and 2016, in violation of the 27-nation bloc's regulations. Le Pen and her co-defendants deny wrongdoing. The biggest concern for Le Pen is that the court may declare her ineligible to run for office with immediate effect" even if she appeals. That could prevent her from running for president in 2027. She has described such scenario as a political death. The Constitutional Council ruled Friday, in a separate case, that imposing the punishment immediately was constitutional. With so many defendants, the verdict could take several hours for the chief judge to read out. Le Pen was in court. If found guilty, she a