It is 1 p.m., Tuesday January 7, in the cabin of the Boeing 787 which is bringing Marine Le Pen back from her trip to Mayotte. The Air Austral flight stops in Nairobi, Kenya, for refueling and a crew change, and the MP (National Rally, RN) from Pas-de-Calais relaxes in front of a film alongside Louis Aliot, her former companion and vice-president of the far-right party.
At the same time, in Paris, Marine Le Pen’s brother-in-law and advisor, Philippe Olivier, sent this brief statement to Agence France-Presse (AFP): “Jean-Marie Le Pen, surrounded by his family, was called back to God this Tuesday at 12 p.m..”
At the back of the plane, a few journalists who accompanied the trip to the Indian Ocean by the president of the RN group in the National Assembly turned on their phones. The AFP alert is displayed. The party’s press secretary slips into the business class of the plane, and informs Marine Le Pen of the death of her father at the age of 96. A few tears flow. The three-time presidential candidate isolates herself to try to contact her loved ones, struggling with an uncertain telephone network. Before leaving in the air, direction Paris, where the media are asked by his team not to send cameras when the flight arrives. In France, the disappearance of the historic leader of the far right impacts the commemoration of the attacks of Charlie Hebdo.
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