At the Paris appeal trial for the Front National parliamentary assistants case, prosecutors on February 3, 2026, requested four years in prison, including one year firm, and five years of ineligibility against Marine Le Pen, without provisional execution. The case concerns an alleged system of diverting European funds from 2004 to 2016 to finance the party. The court of appeal's decision is expected before summer.
On February 3, 2026, at the Paris Court of Appeal, prosecutors Stéphane Madoz-Blanchet and Thierry Ramonatxo delivered a severe indictment in the appeal trial of the Front National (FN, now Rassemblement National, RN) European parliamentary assistants. They described the system established between 2004 and 2016 as a « systemic, enduring, assumed, and directed by the party's leadership » organization, enabling the diversion of 1.4 million euros from European funds to pay party staff amid financial difficulties.
Against Marine Le Pen, RN president and seen as the instigator of the system following her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, the prosecution requested four years in prison, including one year firm amenable under electronic monitoring, a 100,000 euro fine, and five years of ineligibility without immediate execution. This slightly lightens the first-instance sentence from March 31, 2025, which imposed four years of imprisonment including two firm and ineligibility with provisional execution, causing shock in far-right ranks.
« Marine Le Pen was the instigator, following her father, of a system that allowed the party to divert 1.4 million euros », stated Stéphane Madoz-Blanchet. Thierry Ramonatxo highlighted her central role: « She signed the contracts. She cannot tell us she was unaware. She was a lawyer and trained jurist. » The system, initially « artisanal » under Jean-Marie Le Pen, was « professionalized » by Marine Le Pen from 2012 onward.
For the other eleven defendants, including the RN as a legal entity, the requisitions largely confirm first-instance penalties, ranging from six months suspended for Timothée Houssin to three years including two suspended for Wallerand de Saint-Just. Lawyers for the European Parliament, a civil party, denounced a « betrayed trust » and stated: « We are not in a gray area, we are in a forbidden zone. »
The court, not bound by the prosecution, will deliver its decision before summer 2026. Marine Le Pen, questioned in January, contested any criminal intent, citing party « disorganization » and « good faith ». The hearings, more serene than in first instance, illuminated the FN's dysfunctions and the defendants' strategy of delegitimizing justice.
