The extreme right -wing leader Marine Le Pen and another 11 convicted in an Embber trial that shook French politics has presented an appeal, a judicial source said on Friday.
On March 31, 24 people were convicted by a Paris Court that the National Right Rally (RN) had fictitious employees in the expenses of the European Parliament when they were in fact working for the party with liquidity problems.
The verdict was a devastating blow to Le Pen, who, in addition to receiving a partially suspended prison term and a fine, was forbidden to participate in the elections for five years, which slipped away his ambition to defend the presidency in 2027.
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But then it was promoted by an announcement of the Court of Appeals of Paris that it would be the appeal to allow a decision to be reached in the summer of 2026, which means that it could still bear it, if the verdict is invested or amended.
Twelve of the defendants, as well as the part itself, have appealed the verdict before a deadline of midnight on Thursday so that their court is presented, a judicial source told the AFP, asking not to be appointed.
This means that half of the defendant has decided to accept his convictions without appealing.
Others housed in an appeal included the attached leader of the party and the mayor of Perpignan Louis Aliot, added the source.
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The RN party leader Jordan Bardella, 29, who is expected to replace Le Pen as a presidential candidate if he cannot bear, he was never under investigation in the case.
Le Pen, who has always said that he is innocent, has criticized the ruling as a “political decision” and promised to continue with his 2027 presidential campaign, with surveys that show it in the course in the first round.
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