Marine Le Pen: prosecutor recommends jail and 5 year ban from public office in EU embezzlement trial

I think the prosecutors’ wish is to deprive the French people of the ability to vote for who they want,

Le Pen later said

The law applies to all,

prosecutor Nicolas Barret told the court, as Le Pen sat in the front row of the defendants’ benches,

I have absolutely no sense of having committed the slightest irregularity, or the slightest illegal act,

she told the court

It's clear that the only thing the public prosecutors wanted was Marine Le Pen's exclusion from political life.

After hearing the demands, Le Pen said

If the European Parliament had not blown the whistle, the facts would have continued and the embezzlement would have been even greater.

She added

In the end, the only question that matters ... is to determine, based on the body of evidence, whether parliamentary aides worked for the MEP they were attached to or for the National Rally,

de Perthuis said

In the past few weeks, it has appeared very clearly that the fraud is, I think, largely established,

he told reporters on Tuesday

I feel we didn’t succeed in convincing you,

Le Pen told the panel of three judges last week, as she detailed her arguments in a one-hour-and-a-half speech punctuated with political remarks seemingly meant to be heard by the many journalists in the courtroom

The court can write that we’re messy, sometimes disorganized... It’s not a crime,

she said