FILE PHOTO: French far-right leader and member of parliament Marine Le Pen, President of the French far-right National Rally (Rassemblement National - RN) party parliamentary group, delivers a speech during a debate session on the first part of the 2025 budget bill (PLF) at the National Assembly in Paris, France, October 22, 2024. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/File Photo
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The Paris prosecutor on Wednesday requested a five-year prison sentence and a five-year ban from public office against far-right leader Marine Le Pen, at a trial where she and 24 others are accused of embezzling European Union funds.
The trial, which comes almost a decade after initial investigations started, threatens to undermine her party's efforts to polish its image ahead of a 2027 presidential vote many believe she can win.
On Wednesday, the Paris prosecutor requested a 300,000-euro ($316,860) fine, five years in prison and an ineligibility sentence against Marine Le Pen, with provisional execution. If the court finds her guilty of the charges with this provisional execution, Le Pen will not be able to run in elections even if she appeals the judgment.
"I note that the prosecution is being extremely outrageous in its demands, particularly with the request for provisional execution, which it wants to impose on everyone being prosecuted," Le Pen told reporters while leaving court.
Le Pen, the RN party itself, and 24 others - party officials, employees, former lawmakers and parliamentary assistants - are all accused of using European Parliament money to pay staff in France who were working for their party, which at the time was called the National Front.
"I am not surprised by the prosecution's request for provisional execution. There is a consistency in the prosecution's demands," Patrick Maisonneuve, the European Parliament's lawyer, said.
The trial will last until Nov. 27.
($1 = 0.9468 euro)
(Reporting by Marine Strauss)
