French prosecutors demanded, on Wednesday, November 13, that far-right leader Marine Le Pen receive a jail sentence and be banned from being elected to public office for five years over charges that she embezzled European Parliament funds.
The prosecution made the request in a Paris court where Le Pen and other defendants from her Rassemblement National (RN, far-right) party have stood trial, accused of creating fake jobs at the EU parliament. She has denied the charges.
If granted by the court, the ban would exclude the 56-year-old politician from running in France's 2027 presidential election. The prosecution demanded the ban be effective immediately, even if the defence team appeals. The prosecution demanded that all of the two dozen defendants be excluded from running from public office.
It also demanded a five-year jail sentence for Le Pen, calling for at least two years of that to be a "convertible" custodial sentence, meaning there would be a possibility of partial release. Finally, the prosecutors demanded the RN be fined two million euros ($2.1 million).
Le Pen promptly denounced the prosecutors' motion as excessive, branding it an "outrage" and accusing prosecutors of trying to "ruin the (RN) party." "I think the prosecutors' wish is to deprive the French people of the ability to vote for who they want," she said.
The alleged fake jobs system, which was first flagged in 2015, covers parliamentary assistant contracts between 2004 and 2016. Prosecutors say the assistants worked exclusively for the party outside parliament.
Addressing the trial last month, Le Pen said she was innocent. "I have absolutely no sense of having committed the slightest irregularity, or the slightest illegal act," she told the court.
The RN, like other far-right parties around Europe, has been riding high after a strong performance in European elections in June.