After the heavy requisitions of the prosecution at the trial of the RN parliamentary assistants, Marine Le Pen is relying on the party’s pleadings and communication to defend herself, win the support of public opinion and avoid conviction.
The requisitions have fallen and the National Rally (RN) is preparing its response. The sentences requested by the prosecution against all the defendants in the case of the parliamentary assistants of the National Front (FN, the former name of the far-right party) are heavy, particularly with regard to the leading figure. of the party: Marine Le Pen. The prosecutors asked that the MP be sentenced to five years in prison, including two years, but above all to a five-year ineligibility sentence with provisional execution, that is to say which would apply even in the event of of appeal and would prevent Marine Le Pen from participating in the presidential election in 2027.
Requisitions that have made members of the RN jump since November 13. But the elected officials of the extreme right do not intend to remain without a response and are putting themselves in working order while the judgment, which may or may not follow the recommendations of the prosecution, will be rendered at the beginning of 2025.
Maneuvers to win public opinion
Judged among the defendants, Marine Le Pen did not multiply the reactions, contenting herself with pointing out a prosecution “extremely outrageous in its claims”, according to her, and this sentence from the prosecutor Louise Neyton perceived as an “admission” by the head of line of RN deputies: “I am not asking you to be released because it hurts me too much”. But other personalities reacted strongly like Jordan Le Pen who wrote on X: “The prosecution is not in justice, it is in relentlessness and revenge against Marine Le Pen “. “It is an attack on democracy” which aims to “deprive millions of French people of their vote in 2027”, he added in reference to the penalty of ineligibility.
The prosecution is not in justice: it is in relentlessness and revenge against Marine Le Pen.
His scandalous requisitions aim to deprive millions of French people of their vote in 2027. This is an attack on democracy.
All my support Marine. pic.twitter.com/8V7aioZWSn
— Jordan Bardella (@J_Bardella) November 13, 2024
A point on which the RN received unexpected support: that of the former Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, who estimated on “Fighting Madame Le Pen is done at the ballot box, not elsewhere.” Former presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon also reacted to the requisitions against Marine Le Pen and showed himself reluctant not to a penalty of ineligibility, but to the application of this before the exhaustion of the means of appeal.
Reactions which can serve the RN’s argument qualifying the treatment of the parliamentary assistants’ affair as a “political trial” and denouncing a biased prosecution. The RN has also online a petition of support for Marine Le Pen to oppose a conviction of ineligibility.
Some go so far as to hope that support for Marine Le Pen and more broadly for the RN will be strengthened after this legal case. An advisor to the Northern MP is banking on the fact that the “relentlessness” against her camp will cause the party to climb several points in the next elections, as he indicated to Franceinfo : “If we are convicted, the judges will legitimize our role as opponents and we will take ten points in the next legislative elections.”
Marine Le Pen already announces that she will appeal in the event of a conviction
It is also in court that Marine Le Pen will defend herself with the pleadings scheduled from Monday, November 18 and for two weeks. The MP should maintain the positions she has held since the start of the trial, but seems to doubt her ability to convince compared to the first hearings. She has indicated that she is preparing for a conviction, but has already announced that she will appeal if such a decision is taken, with the hope that if ineligibility is upheld it will be suspensive. The case could even be taken to the Court of Cassation in the event of new convictions on appeal.
If Marine Le Pen and the RN deem the requisitions too severe by demanding a sentence of ineligibility against each of the defendants, this sentence has been made automatic for the offenses of embezzlement of public funds, which is specifically criticized in this case, by a law of 2016. In this case, the RN criticizes the prosecution for referring to legal texts, while it accuses the justice system of being lax towards delinquents for several years.