Paris prosecutors on Wednesday requested a 2-year prison sentence for far-right leader Marine Le Pen and an additional 5-year period of ineligibility to run for office, in a trial over the suspected embezzlement of European Parliament funds where her ability to participate in the 2027 presidential race is at stake, reports The Independent.
The National Rally party and 25 of its officials, including Le Pen, are accused of having used money intended for European Union parliamentary aides to instead pay staff who worked for the party between 2004 and 2016, in violation of the 27-nation bloc’s regulations. The National Rally was called the National Front at the time.
Prosecutors asked the court to declare Le Pen guilty and impose a 300,000-euro fine and three more years of suspended prison sentence. They requested that the period of ineligibility be declared effective immediately, independent of whether Le Pen files an appeal or not.
The nine-week trial is scheduled to finish Nov. 27, with a verdict at a later date. Defense lawyers are to speak in the next couple of weeks.
Le Pen did not show any emotion in the courtroom as she listened to the prosecutors' demands.