Could Marine Le Pen’s guilty verdict help fuel the far right?

Marine Le Pen的有罪判决是否会助燃极右势力?

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2025-04-02

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The parliamentary leader of France’s far-right National Rally party, Marine Le Pen, has been banned from public office for five years for embezzlement, ruining her chance of a presidential run. Angelique Chrisafis reports. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus
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  • This is The Guardian.

  • Today, could Marine Le Pen's guilty verdict fuel the far right in France and beyond?

  • The Guardian Walking into the criminal court in Paris on Monday,

  • Marine Le Pen insisted she was relaxed about what lay ahead.

  • She spent the weekend gardening in her garden outside Paris saying she felt completely cool and calm and collected about this.

  • She took a seat on the front row and quickly her mood changed.

  • She started to become more agitated when she could see it was clear

  • that the judge was going to find her guilty of this massive system of embezzlement.

  • The court found Le Pen guilty of embezzling millions in European Parliament funds as part of a fake job scam,

  • along with 24 others from her National Rally Party.

  • As the party's leader, Le Pen received the harshest punishment of the lot,

  • a suspended prison sentence and a five-year ban from public office, dashing her hopes of a presidential run in 2027.

  • As the judge continued with the verdict and it became clear that she was going to be found guilty,

  • she turned to one of her neighbours and whispered, ''Encoyable,

  • incredible.'' She stormed out of court and went straight on the offensive.

  • So she immediately went on TV, she was defiant, she was on the attack.

  • She said that she felt it was a political decision and that she would not submit to such a denial of democracy.

  • And she reminded TV viewers that millions of people vote for her.

  • She said,

  • ''I didn't think the judges would go as far