Le Pen calls for the condemnation for embezzlement of a “witch hunt” at the Paris rally

The chief of the national rally of the extreme right of France (RN), Marine Le Pen, described the decision to be able to prohibit presenting himself in the elections for five years a “witch hunt”.

“I will not give up,” she told thousands of supporters acting as a flag in place Vauban, near the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Sunday.

She was found on Monday guilty of helping to divert 2.9 million euros (2.5 million pounds sterling) of EU funds between 2004 and 2016 for use by her party. Le Pen called.

On Sunday, during the rally, she said that the decision was a “political decision”, adding: “We do not ask to be above the law, but not to be lower than the law.”

Bardella, the president of the RN party, told the rally on Sunday that the court’s decision was “a direct attack on democracy and an injury to millions of patriotic French people”.

He said he did not want to “discredit all the judges”, but said that the judgment against Le Pen was aimed at “eliminating him from the presidential race” in 2027.

In response Sunday Gabriel Attal, the leader of the centrist renaissance party of the French president Emmanuel Macron, replied by saying “you fly, you pay”.

Attal also denounced “unprecedented interference” in France’s affairs, pointing to support the PEN of several right -wing leaders, notably the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban.

US President Donald Trump described his conviction as a “very big problem”.

A BFMTV survey after Monday’s decision showed that many people in France think that justice was a service in the Le Pen case without bias – 57% according to the ballot.

The Paris Court of Appeal said on Tuesday that it should be able to provide a decision on the case by the summer of 2026 – several months before the 2027 presidential election.

Le Pen was preparing to come to the presidency for the fourth time and had a good chance of winning.

In addition to the prohibition to present itself to public functions, Le Pen also received a fine of € 100,000 (£ 82,635) and a sentence of four years in prison, two years of which will be suspended.

This will not apply as long as the call process is not exhausted, which could take several years.

RN spokesperson Laurent Jacobelli said that the party would fight to have Le Pen as a candidate, its 29-year-old president Bardella was “the most naturally legitimate alternative”.

Bardella avoided stopping in the discussion at this stage, refusing to say if he was the “Plan B” of National Rally and said after the decision that the French should be “indignant” by the sentence.

However, a survey published one day before the conviction of Le Pen showed that around 60% of voters of the AI ​​index would support Bardella over Le Pen during the presidential election if it were to present itself.

French President Macron is not allowed to defend another mandate during the next presidential election.