Peimane Ghaleh-Marzban, president of the Paris judicial tribunal, has warned against potential US interference in the case of the Front National's parliamentary assistants. The alert comes ahead of the appeal trial for Marine Le Pen and eleven other defendants, accused of diverting European Parliament funds. It follows reports of US sanction threats against French magistrates.
Starting January 13 and running until February 12, 2026, Marine Le Pen, leader of France's far-right, along with the party as a legal entity and eleven other defendants, will face trial on appeal in Paris. They are accused of using European Parliament funds solely for the benefit of the party in the case of the Front National's parliamentary assistants (now Rassemblement National).
On Tuesday, January 6, 2026, during a speech for the installation of new magistrates, Peimane Ghaleh-Marzban warned against an "unacceptable and intolerable interference." He was responding to reports in the German weekly Der Spiegel, which stated that the Trump administration had considered sanctions against the judges of the Paris correctional tribunal who convicted Marine Le Pen in March 2025 to four years in prison, including two firm, a 100,000 euro fine, and five years of ineligibility.
"If such facts were proven or were to occur, they would constitute an unacceptable and intolerable interference in our country's internal affairs that should provoke the reprobation of the public authorities," the tribunal president stated. He referenced the case of Nicolas Guillou, a French magistrate at the International Criminal Court (ICC), sanctioned by the United States since August 2025 for his involvement in the arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu. "We must rise against even the possibility that this could be imagined," he added.
In March 2025, Donald Trump had compared Marine Le Pen's conviction to his own judicial troubles. This case highlights international tensions surrounding French justice as the appeal trial approaches.
