France’s Marine Le Pen calls embezzlement conviction ‘witch hunt’, vows to fight amid large-scale protests

“I won’t give up,” Le Pen said in front of the crow gathered at Place Vauban, near the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Sunday. Protesters gathered in thousands waved tricolour flags to protest against the barring Le Pen from contesting the 2027 elections, CNN reported.

Marine Le Pen was found guilty by a court last week of helping to embezzle €2.9 million (£2.5 million) of EU funds between 2004 and 2016 in order for her party to use that fund. Le Pen has challenged the verdict of the court.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen delivers her speech during the French far-right party national rally near the parliament in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

During the protest rally on Sunday, Le Pen claimed that the ruling to ban her from contesting elections for five is a “witch hunt” and a “political decision”. “We are not asking to be above the law, but to not be below the law,” she added.

The president of RN Party, Bardella, supported Le Pen and told the protesters in the rally on Sunday that the court ruling was “a direct attack on democracy and a wound to millions of patriotic French people,” BBC reported.

Le Pen, who was being considered as the frontrunner for France’s next presidential election in two years, was penalised with a four-year jail sentence with two years suspended, to be served under house arrest and a fine of €100,000 ($108,000).

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