French prosecutors demand Marine Le Pen be barred from office in fake jobs trial

French far-right party Rassemblement National (RN) former president now MP Marine Le Pen (L) and fellow RN MP Bruno Bilde (L) walk outside the courtroom during a break in the closing arguments hearing of her trial with 24 others for embezzling funds from the European Parliament for the benefit of the far-right party, in Paris on Nov. 13, 2024. (AFP)

• The prosecution made the request in a Paris court where Le Pen, 56, and other defendants from her National Rally party are on trial accused of creating fake jobs at the EU parliament
• They deny the charges

PARIS: French prosecutors in the embezzlement trial of France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Wednesday demanded she get a jail sentence and a ban from public office if convicted, potentially barring her from running for president in 2027.
The prosecution made the request in a Paris court where Le Pen, 56, and other defendants from her National Rally party are on trial accused of creating fake jobs at the EU parliament. They deny the charges.
If granted by the court, the ban would exclude her from running in France’s 2027 presidential election, in what would be her fourth attempt to become head of state.
The National Rally, like other far-right parties around Europe, is riding high following a strong performance in European elections in June.
The prosecution demanded all two dozen defendants be banned from public office for five years, effective immediately after the verdict, even if the defense team appeals.
“The law applies to all,” prosecutor Nicolas Barret told the court, as Le Pen sat in the front row of the defendants’ benches.
He added that the ban would “prohibit the defendants from running in future local or national elections.”
He 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.
The prosecution also demanded the RN be fined two million euros ($2.1 million) and Le Pen herself 300,000 euros.
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’s chairman Jordan Bardella called the prosecutors’ demands on Wednesday an “assault on democracy.”
“The prosecution is not acting justly,” he wrote on X. “It is seeking to persecute and take revenge on Marine Le Pen.”
Prosecutor Louise Neyton told the court earlier in Wednesday’s hearing her team was “not here to persecute” but as the result of a “long judicial investigation.”
She and Barret presented evidence that they said showed an “organized system” of embezzlement by which the party had aimed to “save money.”
Questioned last month about how exactly she selected her presumed parliamentary aides, and what their tasks were, Le Pen gave general answers, or said she could not remember.
If convicted, Le Pen would be able to lodge an appeal.
European Parliament authorities said the legislature had lost three million euros ($3.4 million) through the jobs scheme.
The RN has paid back one million euros, which it insists is not an admission of guilt.