French court to rule on electoral ineligibility for far-right leader Le Pen in March
The verdict on whether France's far-right leader Marine Le Pen will be ruled ineligible to compete in elections will be delivered on March 31, 2025. Le Pen and two dozen other figures in the National Rally party are accused of having embezzled millions of euros from the European Parliament.
French far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen will learn in March whether she will be declared ineligible for elections, a Paris court said on Wednesday at the end of a trial for embezzling funds from the European Parliament.
Prosecutors have asked judges at the Paris criminal court that any sentence shutting Le Pen out of public office be applicable even if she appeals the court's ruling.
That means that if found guilty on March 31, she could be blocked from participating in France's next presidential election, scheduled for 2027 at the latest.
"This case is a lot less simple than some wanted to think. I still hope we will be heard" by the court, Le Pen, 56, told reporters following the hearing.
Her defence lawyer Rodolphe Bosseult had earlier told judges that prosecutors' sentencing request was "a weapon of mass destruction of the way things work in a democracy".
Bosseult added that if imposed, the penalty would affect "the whole electoral roll or even the validity of the vote" in any election.
(AFP)
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