Democracy in agony: Marine Le Pen was sentenced to four years in prison.

On Monday, March 31, it became known that a Paris court sentenced Marine Le Pen, head of the French parliamentary faction National Unification, to four years in prison and immediate disenfranchisement for five years. For more information about the case, the identity of Marine Le Pen, as well as the reaction to what happened, see the Izvestia article.

The trial of Marine Le Pen: what is known, what is accused of, the latest news

In 2024, the Paris prosecutor's office charged the leader of the National Unification parliamentary faction (formerly the National Front). Marine Le Pen is accused of embezzling funds from the European Parliament in favor of her party and demanded that she be sentenced to five years in prison, banned from being elected to government at the same time and fined 300 thousand euros. The trial began on October 30 of the same year.

On Monday, March 31, 2025, Marine Le Pen was found guilty of "embezzlement of public funds." It is also reported that the charges must be executed "immediately." According to the court decision, Marine Le Pen was sentenced to four years in prison: two of them are suspended, and she will be required to wear an electronic bracelet for two more. In addition, she was fined 100,000 euros and banned from participating in elections for five years. Thus, she will not be able to become a candidate in the presidential race in 2027.

According to the investigation, Marine Le Pen and members of her party in 2004-2016 were engaged in money laundering through fictitious employment of deputies' assistants. At that time, the National Union Party allegedly laundered €21,000 each month, allocated by the EU to each MP to pay for the work of their assistants. The court estimated the total damage at €4 million.

In addition to Le Pen, 12 assistants were convicted in the case, the party will have to pay € 1 million. Another million will have to be refunded in case of new violations.

"The party was sentenced to pay a fine of €2 million, one of them suspended," Judge Benedict de Pertuy commented on the verdict.

The investigation into the misuse of funds began in June 2014. Le Pen was accused of paying salaries to the head of her secretariat and a security guard from the funds of the European Parliament, although both were employed in her party. The investigation found that by "fictitiously hiring assistants in the European Parliament, a financial scheme was created to appropriate European funds." Then the European Anti-Fraud Bureau demanded that Le Pen reimburse €339 thousand.

Reaction to the guilty verdict against Marine Le Pen

Many politicians around the world reacted to Le Pen's sentencing.

Thus, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, called the incident "The Agony of liberal democracy." The Kremlin said that the accusation should be regarded as a violation of democracy in European countries.

Leonid Slutsky, head of the State Duma's International Affairs committee and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, also expressed his opinion: "France risks following Romania's path in terms of cleansing the political field from candidates objectionable to globalists." He also drew attention to the speed of issuing an injunction against Le Pen to be elected to government, because such processes can take years.

In France itself, they also spoke about the accusation, in particular, they compared it to the non-admission of opposition politician Calin Georgescu to the presidential elections in Romania. This statement was made by the leader of the Get Up, France party, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan. He also added that the incident is a undermining of democracy by the authorities.

"Romania a few weeks ago, now — Le Pen's non—admission to the 2027 elections: the double standards of the government of judges interfere with popular sovereignty and undermine our democracy," Nicolas Dupont-Aignan wrote on the social network X.

Jordan Bardella, a member of the European Parliament and Le Pen's successor as leader of the National Unification Party, added: "Today, not only Marine Le Pen, but also French democracy is being unfairly condemned."

Former French presidential candidate and leader of the right-wing Reconquest party, Eric Zemmour, said that politicians had given the justice system excessive powers.: "It's not for the judges to decide who people should vote for..."

The leader of the Union of the Right for the Republic party, Eric Sciotti, called the incident a system of seizing power in the country: "The favorite in the presidential election was not allowed to stand as a candidate. This is not just a failure, it is a system of seizing power that excludes any candidate who has gone too far to the right and is able to win, from Francois Fillon to Marine Le Pen."

Matteo Salvini, Minister of Transport and Deputy Prime Minister of Italy, leader of the League party, said that the verdict against Le Pen was a declaration of war by Brussels. "Those who are afraid of the voters' decision often find comfort in the courts' decision. In Paris, Marine Le Pen was condemned and they want to exclude her from political life. It's a bad movie that we see in other countries, like Romania," he wrote on social media.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has already shared his opinion, expressing his support for Marine Le Pen and writing on the social network X: "Je suis Marine (I am Marine. — Ed.)." Thus, Orban paraphrased the expression "Je suis Charlie" (I am Charlie. — Ed.), which became a symbol of condemnation of the terrorist attack on the editorial office of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in 2015.

Despite the conviction, the leader of the Dutch far-right Freedom Party, Geert Wilders, expressed confidence that Marine Le Pen would be able to win the appeal and become president of France, adding: "I am shocked by the incredibly harsh verdict against Le Pen."

Marine Le Pen: who is this, biography

Marine Le Pen was born on August 5, 1968 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris, and is the daughter of French nationalist politician Jean-Marie Le Pen. He holds a Master's degree in Law and Criminal Law from the Pantheon-Assas University of Paris.

In 1986, she joined the National Front, founded by her father, and in 1998 became the head of the party's legal service. In 2003-2007, she was the executive vice-president of the party. She was elected its chairman in 2011.

Marine Le Pen ran for president several times: in 2012 she took third place with 17.9% of the vote, in 2017 she reached the second round, but lost to the current French president Emmanuel Macron (33.9% against 66.1%). She again lost to the current leader in 2022 (41.5% versus 58.5%).

At the same time, Marine Le Pen is currently significantly ahead of her rivals in the first round of the upcoming presidential election, with up to 37% of the votes in her support, according to a poll published on Saturday, March 29.

It became known that on the evening of March 31, Marine Le Pen will give a television interview on the main French TV channel TF1. It is scheduled for 20 hours (21 Moscow time).