American businessman Elon Musk has called for the release of the leader of the French National Unification Party, Marine Le Pen, after her guilty verdict.
⠀
Earlier, US President Donald Trump disagreed with the verdict of Le Pen, whose entire fault, in his opinion, was an “accounting error.”
⠀
“Freedom for Le Pen!” – this is how Musk commented on Trump’s publication criticizing the verdict of the French politician on the social network X.
⠀
A Paris court on Monday sentenced Le Pen and a number of deputies from the right-wing National Unification party in the case of embezzlement of European Parliament funds. According to the charges, in the period from 2004 to 2016, the EP allocated funds to pay for the work of parliamentary assistants to MEPs from Le Pen’s party, but in fact the assistants worked only for the National Unification Party. Le Pen was found guilty of creating a “centralized system” of laundering EP money.
⠀
Like other deputies found guilty, the court banned her from being elected to government bodies. With regard to Le Pen, this measure of restraint was imposed for five years with immediate execution of the sentence, which could deprive her of a chance to enter the fight for the presidency in 2027. She must also serve two years with an electronic bracelet at home and pay a fine of 100,000 euros. The court ordered the party to pay 1 million euros.
