She was at the “center” of an “organized system” aimed at making the European Parliament the “cash cow” of the RN, with “disregard for democratic rules”. The prosecution requested five years in prison on Wednesday in Paris, including two years in prison, and five years of ineligibility against Marine Le Pen.
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The requested prison sentence is flexible, which means that the leader of the far-right party would not go to prison. But it could prevent him from running in the 2027 presidential election: the prosecution has in fact demanded that the penalty of ineligibility be accompanied by provisional execution, that is to say that it applies immediately, even if called.
Such a sentence “would prohibit the defendants from running in future local or national elections”, specifies the prosecutor Nicolas Barret in front of the three-time presidential candidate seated in the first row of the defendants. But “we are here in a judicial forum and the law applies to everyone”, justice cannot be accountable for the political “ambitions” of each person.
The prosecution also demanded a fine of 300,000 euros for Marine Le Pen, as well as a fine of 4.3 million euros, including a firm 2 million euros for the National Rally.
Leaving the courtroom, Marine Le Pen, who had stiffened on her bench as the announcement of the requested sentences approached, denounced the “violence” and “excess” of the requisitions. “I think that the desire of the prosecution is to deprive the French of the ability to vote for those they want” and to “ruin the party”, she asserts.
The president of the RN Jordan Bardella immediately reacted on
The prosecution had recalled in its requisitions that according to the law, the five years of ineligibility were “obligatory unless expressly motivated by the court”.
“War machine”
The prosecution had just ended its day of requisitions with a severe charge against the defendants. Because the “system” put in place, which was “strengthened” with the arrival of Marine Le Pen at the head of the party in 2011, is “unprecedented” in its duration, the “amount” of embezzlements (4.5 millions) and its “organized, systematized character”.
The defendants “have made and intended to continue to make the European Parliament, to put it prosaically, their cash cow,” insists Louise Neyton, also responsible for the prosecution. “We saw a real war machine to systematically divert the amount of envelopes, down to the last crumb.”
A “partisan enrichment” which allowed the National Rally to “finance its growth, its influence, its propaganda for years”. But who was also “at the service” of the “personal ambition” of its leaders, “to carry their political careers at the expense of the taxpayer”.
And this, with a “total disregard for public affairs and the functioning of institutions”, she said, speaking of “a profound and lasting attack on the democratic rules of the game”.
Without “the shadow of a questioning” of the defendants at the hearing: “They do not see, they do not want to see, they do not care about the illegality of their actions,” continues the magistrate.
«Fiction alternative»
The public prosecutor requests in particular 18 months in prison including six months closed with three years of ineligibility against the No. 2 of the party Louis Aliot; 10 months suspended sentence and one year of ineligibility against RN spokesperson Julien Odoul; 18 months suspended sentence and two years of ineligibility for Marine Le Pen’s sister, Yann Le Pen.
With each time, fines and provisional execution.
Since 9:30 a.m., the two prosecutors have detailed the architecture of a “system” which according to them was put in place at the National Front (now RN) between 2004 and 2016, consisting of concluding “artificial contracts” for parliamentary assistants Europeans who actually worked for the party.
At the time, “the party was in a particularly tense financial situation. Everything that can contribute to reducing burdens will be used systematically,” whether “legal or not,” said Louise Neyton.
Faced with “the alternative fiction” proposed in defense, the prosecutors dissected, defendant by defendant and contract by contract, “the nature of the work” carried out by the twelve parliamentary assistants, the “link of subordination” that they maintained with “their European deputy – nine including Marine Le Pen – are tried in total.
With a general observation: in proof of work, “there is nothing”, except “the famous standard proof: the press review”, they said. Employment contracts? “Artificial”, without “coherence”.
The defense is due to plead starting Monday and the trial is scheduled to end on November 27. The court will not make its decision for several months.
