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Marine Le Pen has submitted a request to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to examine the immediate application of the five-year ineligibility sentence she received after being found guilty in March of misusing public funds, an offence with estimated damages running into several million euros.
The daughter of the far-right party’s founder was sentenced to four years in prison, two of which are firm (but convertible into house arrest with an electronic tag), meaning she is unlikely to be incarcerated. She was also fined €100,000.
In addition, the judge imposed a five-year ban from holding public office, which took immediate effect.
Le Pen, who has announced she is appealing the ruling, has denounced the sentence as “political” and “unjust”, criticising the immediate application of the ban as undemocratic.
As it stands, she is barred from standing in the 2027 presidential election or even running as an MP if another snap parliamentary election were to be called.
Being prevented from standing in upcoming elections represents a violation of human rights, the National Rally said in a statement. The party is calling for “respect for the presumption of innocence” in Le Pen’s case.
Several like-minded political leaders, often critical of the European Union, have expressed their support for Le Pen: from former US President Donald Trump and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro to Italy’s Matteo Salvini and the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán even posted “Je suis Marine” on social media platform X, a reference to the “Je suis Charlie” slogan that emerged in solidarity with French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo after the 2015 Islamist terror attack that killed 12 people.
The ECHR is now expected to open an investigation to assess the legality of the immediate enforcement of Le Pen’s ineligibility sentence.
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