End of the appeal trial that hangs by a thread the candidacy of the far-right leader Marine Le Pen for the 2027 presidential elections.
Le Pen’s lawyers requested her acquittal, alleging her good faith, this Wednesday, February 11.
«If what she did at that time constitutes a crime, she does not have the sensibility to have committed it,» declared the lawyer Sandra Chirac-Kollarik, the first to appear before the court, rejecting the charge of misappropriation of public funds for which the Pas-de-Calais deputy was found guilty in the first instance in March 2025.
Le Pen, 57, and more than 20 people from her political party called the National Front at the time – renamed National Rally – were found guilty in a verdict in March 2025 of embezzling funds from the European Parliament in the hiring of advisors between 2004 and 2016.
That ruling disqualified Le Pen from holding public office for five years, which she is now trying to challenge.
Reiterating an argument already presented on several occasions by the defense, the lawyer considered the institution’s rules in this matter unclear. «At no time could Marine Le Pen imagine that she was violating the rules,» she insisted.
The final arguments of Sandra Chirac-Kollarik and Rodolphe Bosselut marked the end of four weeks of hearings. The appeals court will announce its decision on Le Pen’s ineligibility on July 7.
Read also: French prosecutor requests five years of disqualification for Marine Le Pen from holding public office
Bardella emerges as the successor to Le Pen in the race for the Presidency
A confirmation of the disqualification against Marine Le Pen for five years from holding any position, according to the prosecutor’s request, would prevent her from accessing the Élysée Palace, forcing her to hand over the position to the National Rally President, Jordan Bardella.
The leader of the far-right party has repeatedly stated that she will make her decision once the appeal verdict is known, without waiting for the outcome of a possible appeal to the Court of Cassation.
In addition to the disqualification from holding public office, the prosecutor requested on February 3 a four-year prison sentence, including one year of mandatory electronic monitoring, and a fine of 100,000 euros. He also requested that the other defendants who had appealed be convicted again.
Le Pen denies the accusations of being at the center of a fraudulent scheme aimed at diverting funds from the European Union.
The political leader managed to qualify twice for the second round of the presidential elections, in 2017 and 2022, on both occasions against the current president Emmanuel Macron, whose goal she saw frustrated.
However, she now seems to have a better opportunity, given that the far-right is strengthening in Europe and her party National Rally has led opinion polls in recent years.
Read also: Appeal trial begins for Le Pen’s corruption conviction; her presidential candidacy for 2027 hangs by a thread
With Reuters and AP.
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