French Marine Corps is forbidden to seek public office for 5 years – Country
French courts banned the Navy Marine le Pen from seeking public office for five years on Monday, and effective immediately, the entry into force of corruption – an earthquake strike on the presidential hopes of far-right leaders and French politics.
Although Le Pen can appeal the verdict, such a move will not suspend her qualifications, which may exclude her from the 2027 presidential campaign.
The court's ruling is France's political and judicial rule, and at the end of its second and final term, it recruited one of the competitors to succeed President Emmanuel Macron, which is planned to continue until 2027.
Le Pen herself is not hearing the Chief Justice's verdict that turned her career into an end. By then, she had strided into the court, when the judge first stated that he would be banned from power without immediately saying how long it lasted.
“Political Death” Scene
The verdict could prevent her from running for president in 2027, a situation she used to call “political death.”
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Only the ruling that the appeal ruled overturned the injunction of public office can restore her hopes. However, with the election only two years, time is exhausted and there is no guarantee that the Court of Appeal will be more favorable.
The verdict was a huge failure of the Le Pen party. The judge also misappropriated public funds to eight other current or former party members who had served as members of the European Parliament, like her. Also convicted were 12 other people, who had served as parliamentary aides to Le Pen and are now the National Rally Party of the National Front.
Le Pen has been at the heart of the “system” her party uses to withdraw funds from EU parliamentary funds, the judge said. The judge said Le Pen and other co-defendants did not enrich themselves in person. But the ruling describes embezzlement as a “democratic bypass” to deceive parliament and voters.
Le Pen did not immediately show any reaction in the front row of the court when the judge first declared guilty. But, the verdict then proceeded in more detail and she became even more excited. The judge said Le Pen's party illegally used the European Parliament's money for its own benefit, and she nodded.
“Incredible,” she once whispered. Then, she suddenly left without warning, picked up her bag and strode, clicking on the hardwood floor with her heel clicking on it, making her unbelievable.
The court sentenced Le Pen to two years in prison after the House arrest, but it was the unqualified political consequences that had brought her the biggest blow to the foreseeable political future.
Le Pen and 24 other officials from the national rally were accused of using money intended to pay for EU parliament aides to pay employees working in the party from 2004 to 2016, violating the 27-national coalition rules. Le Pen and her co-defendant denied wrongdoing.
Le Pen enjoys growing support
Le Pen, 56, won the runner-up for President Emmanuel Macron in the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections, and her party's election support has grown in recent years.
During the nine-week trial at the end of 2024, she felt she was not qualified to “will deprive me of being a presidential candidate” and deprive her supporters of the rights.
“There are 11 million people who voted for the movement I represent. So tomorrow, it is possible that millions of French people will think they have been deprived of their candidates in the election,” she told the panel of three judges.
Le Pen, who appears to be a natural successor in the 2027 election, is Protégé Jordan Bardella, 29, of Le Pen, who took over as the party's helm in 2021.
Le Pen denied the allegations that she was the head of the system, which was intended to benefit her party from the EU Parliament’s funding from 2011 to 2021. Instead, she believes that the work of an assistant adapting to the European Parliament's payments is acceptable.
The hearing showed that some EU money was used to pay Le Pen's bodyguard – once her father's bodyguard, as well as her personal assistant.
Prosecutors demanded a sentence of two years in prison and a five-year failure in Le Pen.
Le Pen said she felt they were “only interested” in stopping her from running for president.
Leicester reported from Le Pecq, France
& Copy 2025 Canadian Press
