The Court of Cassation “could” rule on Marine Le Pen’s appeal against her conviction in the case of the assistants of National Front MEPs “at the beginning of April 2027 at the latest”, she announced on Wednesday July 8, removing the prospect of wearing the bracelet during the presidential campaign.
“This timetable is likely to evolve depending on procedural factors”, however, the highest judicial authority clarifies, while the first round of the presidential election must be held on April 18, 2027. Given the deadlines for execution of sentences, in the event of the rejection of Marine Le Pen’s appeal, the prospect that she will have to wear an electronic bracelet during the presidential campaign seems to greatly diminish.
In its press release, the Court of Cassation explains that the deadlines for examining appeals by the criminal chamber, which rules on convictions handed down in criminal matters, take into account “procedural necessities, linked in particular to respect for the rights of the parties”.
These deadlines “depend on numerous factors, some outside the jurisdiction,” she explains, citing in particular the number of appeals filed, the deadlines for filing briefs or the possible filing of a priority question of constitutionality.
Suspension of sentences
The Court of Cassation, which rules on respect for the law and not the merits of the cases, recalls that an appeal to cassation suspends the sentences and convictions, no provisional execution having been pronounced during the appeal trial of the National Rally. “Thus, the criminal provisions of this judgment, which partially overturned the judgment of the Paris judicial court, cannot be implemented,” she indicates.
The public prosecutor’s office and the twelve defendants sentenced Tuesday by the Paris Court of Appeal in the case of the FN parliamentary assistants have until July 20 to appeal to the Court of Cassation. Marine Le Pen has already announced that she will file an appeal, which has the effect of suspending the one-year electronic bracelet sentence handed down against her for embezzlement of public funds.
The member for Pas-de-Calais intends to challenge her conviction under article 432-15 of the Penal Code and wants, as indicated Tuesday evening on TF1, “to submit this extremely serious legal matter to the Court of Cassation”. This provision, which punishes the misappropriation of public funds by “a person holding public authority”, would only apply, according to her and her lawyers, to national public officials and therefore not to deputies of the European Parliament – which Marine Le Pen was at the time – an international body.
