By admin 
Allies of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen have accused the judiciary of a witch hunt and excessive interference in democracy, after prosecutors asked her to face a mandatory five-year ban from public office if convicted of misusing federal funds. European Union.
Published on: 16/11/2024 – 18:01
2 minutes
Prosecutors’ move to demand a “provisional execution” of the public office ban – a powerful, rarely used tool that means the ban will remain in place regardless of any appeal – casts doubt on Le Pen’s chances of winning to participate in the 2027 presidential elections.
Le Pen and her co-accused members National Rally (RN) party denies using EU funds to pay party workers in France. They denounce the case as a politically motivated attempt to keep the RN from power.
“The goal is to attack a political opponent. It is a very violent attack on democracy. It is my political death that is being demanded,” Le Pen said. TF1 television Friday in response to the prosecutor’s request.
On social media, Le Pen posted: “It is my political death that is being demanded. My political survival will depend on whether this political death sentence is carried out, with provisional execution or not. That, I think, is the purpose of this operation, which was launched by political opponents.”
The angry response echoes US President-elect Donald Trump’s frequent attacks against the American legal system about the legal problems he has faced since his first term.
Accept
Manage my choices
Courts versus politicians
Judges and prosecutors around the world are wading into thorny political debates.
While some applaud them for holding politicians to account, critics rail against the mission creep of unelected despots in robes.
In Brazil, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was excluded from public office until 2030 for undermining confidence in Brazil’s electoral system.
Recently, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reacted furiously judges who stop migrants shipped to Albania.
“Look at what’s happening in the United States, look at what’s happening in Italy,” said National Rally member Jean-Paul Garraud, a former judge who joined the RN in 2018. “It is clear that France will not be spared.”
Even some mainstream French politicians expressed concern. Gerald Darmanin, President Emmanuel Macron’s Interior Minister until September, wrote on X: “it would be deeply shocking“If Le Pen were not allowed to exist in 2027.
‘Politized’ decision
Prosecutors said they had requested a “provisional execution” against Le Pen and her co-defendant over repeated attempts to buy time in an investigation dating back nearly a decade. A mandatory ban would prevent recurrence of the violations, they argued.
If convicted, judges can choose to deny the prosecutor’s request.
Ludovic Friat, the president of the USM, the largest union representing French prosecutors and judges, said the decision toprovisional execution“was unusual.
“It is a decision that could be considered politicized,” he said, adding that he believed prosecutors had used it “to say that what happened was not democratically acceptable.”
It remains to be seen how Le Pen will now adjust her political strategy. Her long-standing drive to professionalize the RN, in an attempt to shake it off reputation of racism and anti-Semitism, stands in stark contrast to Trump’s anti-institutional movement.
Le Pen’s efforts have paid off: the RN is now the largest party in parliament and is supporting Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s weak coalition government.