Prosecution Demands Five-Year Election Ban for Le Pen in Embezzlement Trial

Prosecution requested far-right RN party leader Marine Le Pen be given a five-year ban from running for public office in French embezzlement trial (Flickr).

The French prosecution requested a five-year prison sentence and a five-year ban from public office on November 13 for Marine Le Pen in her embezzlement trial. Le Pen is the leader of the far-right National Rally (RN) party in France and expected to make a presidential bid in 2027, which could be cut short by a guilty verdict in her current criminal convictions, reports the Guardian.

Le Pen and 24 other defendants are on trial for embezzlement of EU funds, according to POLITICO. They allegedly used funds, which were provided by the European Parliament for parliamentary business, to pay staff who were working exclusively for the party and not the EU from 2004 to 2016. 

The Paris prosecutor Louise Neyton requested the court to consider the “unprecedented” nature of the crime, arguing the embezzlement cost taxpayers €4.5 million and said the prosecution would be seeking another €300,000 in compensation, reports POLITICO. Prosecutors have asked for an additional fine of €2 million and for all the defendants to receive bans on running for public office. 

The prosecution requested that Le Pen be given the harshest sentence of all, due to being an MEP and party leader for some of the duration of the crime, according to POLITICO. They called for her to be given a five-year convertible prison sentence and sentenced to five years of ineligibility to run for public office with provisional execution. This means the penalty will be put into effect immediately and would not be stopped even if Le Pen appealed the case. A guilty verdict would effectively end Le Pen’s 2027 bid for the presidency.

While leaving court, Le Pen argued that the prosecution is “being extremely outrageous in its demands, particularly with the request for provisional execution,” reported Reuters. In a post on X, the RN chairman Jordan Bardella argued the prosecution’s demands are “an assault on democracy” and that the prosecution “is seeking to persecute and take revenge on Marine Le Pen,” according to BBC.

Throughout the trial, AP News stated, Le Pen has insisted that the aides were legitimate and that there had been no political wrongdoing. She has dismissed the case as being politically motivated and has drawn similarities between her case and the legal challenges surrounding U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. 

Le Pen announced that she will be running for the presidency for a fourth time in 2027, reported POLITICO, and that if she was barred from running, “millions of French people would be deprived of their presidential candidate.” Many believed that Le Pen was set to win the presidential election in 2027, after being the runner-up to President Macron in 2017 and 2022. The RN failed to win the most seats in France’s snap elections earlier this year but had a strong showing. 

Strategists argue Le Pen was set to fight a solid anti-incumbent battle in the 2027 presidential election, reported EuroNews, which will not happen if Le Pen is found guilty in this trial. The trial is set to end on November 27, and a verdict date will likely be placed for early next year.