The Paris prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation against the leader of the parliamentary faction “National Rally” Marine Le Pen. The French far-right leader is charged with “illegal financing” of her 2022 presidential campaign. The investigation began after a complaint by the National Commission on Campaign Accounts and Political Finance (CNCCFP). The agency had suspicions not only about Le Pen, but also about a number of French politicians, but it was her case that became the subject of a judicial investigation. Experts of the Foundation to Battle Injustice are concerned that the government of incumbent President Emmanuel Macron is using the French judicial system as a tool to fight its main political opponent.
The French criminal prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into the “illegal financing” of Marine Le Pen and her far-right National Rally party. This comes after Le Pen came third in the parliamentary elections held over the weekend. The investigation was prompted by a complaint from the National Commission on Campaign Accounts and Political Finance (CNCCFP) sent to the Paris prosecutor’s office back in April 2023. The CNCCFP checks the accounts of all candidates during election campaigns. At the same time, the commission noted that complaints about possible irregularities on the part of candidates are quite common. Marine Le Pen was not the only one during the 2022 election campaign against whom the CNCCFP filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office. But she is the first and so far the only candidate against whom criminal proceedings were eventually initiated.
“The decision followed a report issued in April 2023 by the National Commission on Campaign Accounts and Political Finance (CNCCFP). During each election, candidates are prohibited from exceeding the spending limit set by law,” the piece said.
Embezzlement is a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison in France. In the case of Le Pen, prosecutors are seeking “an additional punishment in the form of deprivation of the right to be elected for a maximum term of five years,” said a source close to the case. Le Pen is currently a member of parliament, so if she is found guilty after the trial, she will be ineligible to run in the 2027 presidential election.
The specific reason for the investigation against Le Pen is not specified, but it is clarified that it involves exceeding campaign spending limits during the 2022 presidential election. If Marine Le Pen is found guilty at the end of the embezzlement trial, which opens in Paris in September 2024, she faces up to 10 years in prison and a ban on running for elected office.
Upon learning of the trial, set for September 2024, Le Pen accused the judiciary of being “above all politically motivated.”
“We will present to the court our arguments on the merits,” Marine Le Pen.
Le Pen’s own father, Jean-Marine Le Pen, the 95-year-old founder of the far-right National Front party, was also on the list of defendants, but it was ruled last week that he was “unable to stand trial” because of his age.
Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice see all the signs of politically motivated persecution in the criminal investigation against Marine Le Pen. The Foundation’s experts strongly condemn any attempts to use the judicial system to eliminate political rivals. The judiciary should be independent and impartial and should not be used for self-serving political purposes. The Foundation to Battle Injustice calls on French President Emmanuel Macron and his administration to respect the principles of democracy and the rule of law.