National Rally (RN) has called for demonstrations in support of Marine Le Pen during the weekend throughout France, in response to the embezzlement conviction by the European Parliament that disqualifies the far-right leader for five years and virtually prevents her from running in the 2027 presidential elections.
"The French should be outraged," declared RN's president and Le Pen's protégé, Jordan Bardella, who called on his fellow party members to hold "popular and peaceful" demonstrations, before criticizing "the tyranny of the judges" and "the denial of the Rule of Law."
"They are doing everything possible to prevent us from coming to power," warned Bardella. "Is this a democracy? In France, the country of human rights, the first TNT channel was shut down in a few days, the opposition leader was prevented from running in the presidential elections [without the possibility of appealing the decision], and the imprisonment of a former President of the Republic [Nicolas Sarkozy] was demanded."
Hours after Marine Le Pen herself described the sentence against her as "a political decision" (in an interview on TF1 watched by eight million French viewers), Jordan Bardella confirmed his status as the natural successor by attracting media attention. RN's president described the conviction against his political mentor as "a disproportionate decision because it does not comply with the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Council."
The convicted leader herself has described the sentence on Tuesday as "a nuclear bomb launched by the system." "And if they have used that powerful weapon because we were about to win the elections. We will not allow that to happen. We will not allow the French to be robbed of the presidential elections," Le Pen declared.
The sentence has triggered a series of verbal attacks on social media against the Judiciary, although Jordan Bardella tried to distance himself just enough. "Threats, insults, and slander against judges or magistrates are unacceptable and we condemn them," emphasized RN's number two.
In her television interview, Marine Le Pen personally attacked the president of the court, Judge Bénédicte de Perthuis, accusing her of imposing her will over "millions of voters." "The magistrate's motivation is clear," she warned, after asserting several times that the sentence - with provisional execution and immediate effect, without waiting for a resolution of an appeal - was a "political decision" to prevent her candidacy in the 2027 presidential elections.
"Justice is not political, and this has not been a political decision but a judicial one, adopted by three independent and impartial judges," was the response from the Attorney General of the Court of Cassation, Rémy Heitz, to the attacks on the Judiciary. Rémy Heitz described the "very personalized attacks against magistrates and the threats that may lead to criminal proceedings" as "unacceptable."
Trump expresses solidarity with Le Pen
Donald Trump has joined the criticism against the sentence on Le Pen, drawing a parallel with his own legal issues and stating that what happened "makes me think a lot about what happened in our country."
"She is not allowed to run as a candidate for five years despite leading [in the polls]," Trump specified. "It is a very important matter."