After Le Pen ruling, accusations of 'lawfare' land in France

Gabriel Stargardter - Reuters - 01/04
When French far-right leader Marine Le Pen accused the judiciary of deploying a "nuclear bomb" to blow up her presidential hopes, she added France to the countries where accusations of "lawfare" - political meddling by judges - are gaining currency.
  • Le Pen's attacks on judiciary echo those of Trump, Bolsonaro
  • Opinion poll suggests most French people view Le Pen ruling as fair
  • Le Pen pledges to pursue peaceful, legal means to overturn sentence
PARIS, April 1 (Reuters) - When French far-right leader Marine Le Pen accused the judiciary of deploying a "nuclear bomb" to blow up her presidential hopes, she added France to the countries where accusations of "lawfare" - political meddling by judges - are gaining currency.
A Paris court convicted Le Pen and two dozen figures from her National Rally (RN) party of embezzling EU funds on Monday. It handed Le Pen an immediate five-year ban on running for office that will bar her from the 2027 presidential election unless she can get the ruling overturned on appeal before then.

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Le Pen, RN allies and her supporters around the world including former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro - who is himself barred from office until 2030 - accused the trial judges of interfering in democracy.
French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou told lawmakers on Tuesday that he "unconditionally supported" the judiciary. He said the ruling had not undermined democracy, but said he personally had "questions" about Le Pen's ban.
If politicians didn't like the law that allows judges to impose such bans, they should change it, he said. Eric Ciotti, an RN-allied lawmaker, said he would seek to do just that.
Nearly 60% of respondents said the ruling against Le Pen was fair given her crimes, according to an Elabe opinion poll, conducted for BFM TV and published after Monday's ruling, while 42% considered it was politically biased.
The pol...
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