The trial of the National Front’s advisers in the European Parliament began on Monday, September 30 in Paris, amid a thick procedural fog. This is the legal ritual: the defense does everything possible to postpone the trial and, although the chances are slim, the lawyers warm up by putting up the first banners. The 19 defendants present, MEPs and their assistants in their Sunday best, spent six long hours in their dock, in addition to a brief appearance in court to verify their identity, age and address.
Marine Le Pen, in an elegant midnight blue suit, preferred, like Bruno Gollnish, not to give her address out loud to avoid any later inconveniences, and began to suspend the hearing in search of a chocolate bar. Six deputies were absent, including Louis Aliot, the party’s number two, and Yann Le Pen, Marine’s older sister and Marion Maréchal’s mother. And two others were excused and their trial was postponed indefinitely: Jean-François Jalkh, former vice-president of the FN, killed by a stroke, and Jean-Marie Le Pen, 96, who is no longer in full health. head but calm voice. He was filmed at his home on Saturday, September 28, singing Nazi songs with a rock group from Lyon, it was discovered. Half part. Marine Le Pen announced that she was going to file a complaint for abuse of weakness.
At the trial, Mᵉ Robert Apéry initiated hostilities. The lawyer of Fernand Le Rachinel, an 82-year-old printer who maintains tense relations with the party, submitted a request for his client’s dismissal. “since the facts of which he is accused are inseparable from those articulated against Mr. Jean-Marie Le Pen”. But Mᵉ Apéry warned in the trial program that his client was going to be questioned, so he was offended and considered, without even arguing, that his request had been rejected. The president, Bénédicte de Perthuis, calmly informed him that his request had not been rejected, since Jean-Marie Le Pen’s case had been separated just minutes before. METROmy Apéry did not insist. “I really don’t understand the meaning of this request.”M stated soberly.my Patrick Maisonneuve, lawyer of the European Parliament, civil party.
A succession of requests
Mᵉ Laurent de Caunes, lawyer for Marie-Christine Boutonnet, a 75-year-old former MEP, raised the traditional priority question of constitutionality (QPC), which this time aims to examine whether an MEP should be dismissed according to Article 432-15 of the Penal Code, which punishes embezzlement of public funds, was in accordance with the Constitution. Mᵉ de Caunes, who suffers from back pain, asked to stand for a good hour to relieve his lower back and trace the history of the QPC to the present day. Consider that the penal code that punishes “persons holding public authority” EITHER “responsible for a public service mission” it says nothing about European parliamentarians. The law is not clear, so it is necessary to send the question to the Constitutional Council and interrupt the trial to know for sure. The prosecution noted that the Court of Cassation had rejected the argument three times and the court rejected the QPC.
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