The president of the National Front died at the age of 96. For several years, his health had deteriorated, forcing him to withdraw from the public scene.
Jean-Marie Le Pen died at the age of 96 this Tuesday, January 7, his family announced to AFP. For more than ten years, this controversial figure in the French political landscape had gradually withdrawn from national political life, pushed by the exit after Marine Le Pen took power at the head of the National Front.
Furthermore, the last five years – marked by various health problems for the former leader of the far-right party – have favored this gradual withdrawal. Already in March 2022, he was hospitalized after having a “mild form of stroke”. Earlier, his condition was not better; he had been very weakened by the flu and showed a general state of fatigue.
After a “slight heart attack” in 2023, the father of Marine Le Pen, five times candidate for the Elysée, was admitted to hospital in November 2024 to carry out a battery of tests according to information communicated by his entourage to France Televisions. The hospitalization of the 96-year-old man was decided “as a precaution“after poor analysis results. According to several of his relatives, since this heart attack, his general health has declined significantly over time.
-This follow-up was therefore the consequence of a “profound deterioration” in his physical and psychological state, noted after a medical assessment. These complications also prevented the finalist in the 2002 presidential election from “being present” or “preparing his defense” during the affair involving the assistants of RN MEPs. His case was ultimately “disjoined” despite the proceedings against him.
Indeed, Jean-Marie Le Pen had been placed, a few months earlier, “under legal protection regime”, a civil provision which is similar to guardianship according to his lawyer François Wagner. “This civil provision was activated at the request of the family by the local court of Puteaux (Hauts-de-Seine), after a medical expertise establishing the incapacity of Jean-Marie Le Pen, explains Le Monde. three daughters his agents, allowing them to carry out various acts in the name of their father, alone or in concert.
