The far-right candidate for the 2027 presidential election in France, Marine Le Pen, has filed an appeal against her conviction on appeal in a case of embezzlement of European public funds, a judicial source said on Tuesday.
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Marine Le Pen, the National Rally party (RN, former National Front) and the ten other executives judged on appeal filed an appeal before the Court of Cassation, the highest French court.
They are contesting the judgment of the Paris Court of Appeal of July 7 which found them guilty of embezzlement of public funds from the European Parliament between 2004 and 2016.
The court of appeal had reduced his sentence of ineligibility from five years to 15 months (already served), allowing him to compete in the election. She immediately announced her candidacy.
She was also sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, including one year under an electronic bracelet, but assured that she would campaign “without” by appealing to the Court of Cassation, because this final appeal suspends the execution of her sentence.
Marine Le Pen’s appeal was filed on July 15. The Court of Cassation intends to rule on this case before the first round of the presidential election, on April 18, 2027.
These procedures have the effect of suspending the sentences imposed on appeal until the Court’s decision.
The Paris Court of Appeal found Marine Le Pen and her co-defendants guilty of setting up an “organization” to pay as parliamentary assistants to MEPs people who actually worked for the party, which European Parliament regulations strictly prohibited.
On the disputed contracts before it, the court of appeal calculated the total damage to the European Parliament at 2.8 million euros between 2004 and 2016 and estimated that the misappropriation of public funds caused a “break in equality” with other political parties.
