by WorldTribune Staff, March 31, 2025 Real World News

Globalist lawfare scored a victory over populism on Monday in France.

Le Figaro reports that a Paris court convicted National Rally leader and presidential frontrunner Marine Le Pen of embezzlement and sentenced her to four years imprisonment, which will likely be served on probation with an electronic tag rather than in jail, and a fine of 100,000 euros.

National Rally leader Marine Le Pen

The court also banned Le Pen from running for public office for five years.

“When the radical left can’t win via democratic vote, they abuse the legal system to jail their opponents,” Elon Musk said Monday. “This is their standard playbook throughout the world. This will backfire, like the legal attacks against President Trump.”

Le Pen and 24 other co-defendants were accused of illicitly siphoning European Parliament funds to pay for party employees who seldom or never dealt with affairs in Brussels or Strasbourg. The court estimated that the accused had over 12 years embezzled more than €4 million, €474,000 of which Le Pen was held personally responsible for as a member of European Parliament.

The court ruled that the ineligibility to run for public office should come into effect “immediately.” This means that even if Le Pen were to appeal the decision, the ban would remain in place during the appeal process. Appeals of such sort typically take at least a year, so it is technically possible for the ruling to be overturned before the election occurs in 2027.

Should the appeal fail, or the process extend beyond the vote, it would mean that, for the first time since 1981, Le Pen would not be running in a French presidential election.

According to a recent survey from Ifop, Le Pen is the clear frontrunner in France’s 2027 presidential election. Depending on potential opponents, she recorded between 34 and 37 percent support. In comparison, her closest rival, Le Havre Mayor Edouard Philippe, recorded 21 percent support.

Eric Ciotti, the former leader of the Republicains, who sided with Le Pen’s party in last year’s legislative elections, said that “the democratic destiny of our nation was confiscated by an unworthy judicial cabal. This is not a simple malfunction, it is a system of power capture that systematically excludes any candidate too far to the right who is capable of winning.”

Le Pen’s deputy and likely successor, Jordan Bardella, said: “Today, it is not only Marine Le Pen who is being unjustly condemned: it is French democracy that is being executed.”

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  banned from running for president, Lawfare succeeds in France: Le Pen convicted, WorldTribune.com