Marine Le Pen to stand trial in Paris

Marine Le Pen and 26 other people, associated with the European Parliament, will appear before a criminal court in Paris. This is reported by Le Monde.

Hearings have begun on the case of Marine Le Pen and the extreme right-wing party “National Association” on the multi-year embezzlement of funds of the European Parliament.

The funds were spent on sponsoring the organization at the expense of fictitious employment of assistants of MEPs.

It is reported that they received money for this work from the European Parliament, but actually worked for the party.

The party was suspected of creating a “scheme to embezzle” the 21,000 euros a month allocated by the EU to each MEP to pay their assistants.

The European Parliament has filed a civil suit, estimating the damage at nearly seven million euros.

The hearings will last until November 27, and the verdict is expected to be handed down in 2025.

The defendants face up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to one million euros, as well as deprivation of civil rights for five years.

Thus, if Marine Le Pen is found guilty, she will not be able to run for president in 2027.

Marine Le Pen was the leader of the “Rassemblement National” from 2011 to 2021.

She was a candidate for the French presidency three times. In 2022 and 2017, she lost in the second round.