PARIS: French far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen will learn in March whether she will be declared ineligible for elections, a Paris court said on Wednesday at the end of a trial for embezzling funds from the European Parliament.
Prosecutors have asked judges at the Paris criminal court that any sentence shutting Le Pen out of public office be applicable even if she appeals the court’s ruling.
That means that if found guilty on March 31, she could be blocked from participating in France’s next presidential election, scheduled for 2027 at the latest.
“This case is a lot less simple than some wanted to think. I still hope we will be heard” by the court, Le Pen, 56, told reporters following the hearing.
Her defense lawyer Rodolphe Bosseult had earlier told judges that prosecutors’ sentencing request was “a weapon of mass destruction of the way things work in a democracy.”
Bosseult added that if imposed, the penalty would affect “the whole electoral roll or even the validity of the vote” in any election.
Prosecutors’ bombshell request was topped off with a five-year jail term, three of which suspended, and a fine of 300,000 euros ($320,000).
At issue in the case are employment practices for assistants in the European Parliament to representatives of Le Pen’s National Front party — since renamed the National Rally (RN) — between 2004 and 2016.
Prosecutors say the party created a “system” using MEPS’ parliamentary allowances to hire people who in fact worked for the outfit in France — not in Brussels or Strasbourg.
The defense struggled throughout the case to produce evidence that any of the supposed assistants had in fact carried out relevant work.
And the European Parliament itself said the RN had cooked the books to the tune of 4.5 million euros.
Prosecutors said that Le Pen could again misuse public funds if allowed to continue in elected office, as justification for their sentencing request.
But her lawyer Bosselut said that the RN’s financial practices at the time were “banal... shared by every European party” in the parliament.
Buoyed this year by the RN’s unprecedented success at snap parliamentary elections, becoming France’s largest single party in parliament, Le Pen has characterised the sentencing request as an attempt to remove her by means of the judiciary rather than a political fair fight.
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Court to rule on ineligibility for France’s Le Pen in March
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Court to rule on ineligibility for France’s Le Pen in March
- “This case is a lot less simple than some wanted to think. I still hope we will be heard” by the court, Le Pen, 56, told reporters
- Her defense lawyer Rodolphe Bosseult had earlier told judges that prosecutors’ sentencing request was “a weapon of mass destruction of the way things work in a democracy“
Afghan polio survivor’s sock factory provides hope by employing disabled workers
HERAT: In a tiny room in the center of Herat, Afghanistan’s westernmost city, Shahabuddin uses his hands to propel himself along the floor to a freshly-made pile of socks waiting to be sorted and packaged.
A double amputee since a roadside bomb took both his legs a decade ago, when Afghanistan was mired in conflict between US-led forces and Taliban insurgents, the 36-year-old father of four had struggled to find work. Unemployed for the last decade, he had been forced to rely on relatives for his family’s survival.
But a new sock production workshop in Herat employing only disabled workers has given him new hope.
“I became disabled due to the explosion. Both my legs were amputated,” Shahabuddin, who like many Afghans goes by only one name, said during a brief pause in his work in early December. “Now I work here in a sock factory, and I am very happy that I have been given a job here.”
The workshop is the brainchild of Mohammad Amiri, 35, a former grocery shop worker who started the business about a month ago. Amiri, himself disabled by childhood polio, wanted to create jobs and help provide income for other people with disabilities, particularly as many of them were injured during the conflict and have no other means of income.
He teamed up with another polio survivor to start the sock factory with a workforce of men disabled either through traumatic injuries or because of congenital issues or other reasons. They make four types of socks: long and short, for winter and summer.
“The factory, which is funded and supported by people with disabilities, began operations last month and currently employs around 50 people with disabilities,” Amiri said. “They are busy in the production, packaging and sale of socks in the city.”
A combination of decades of conflict, a weak health care system and struggling economy have contributed to high levels of disability in Afghanistan. Data from a 2019 Model Disability Survey conducted by The Asia Foundation nonprofit organization indicates that nearly 25 percent of adults live with a mild disability, while 40 percent have moderate and about 14 percent have severe disabilities.
“These figures compel us to act with greater urgency and commitment,” the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said in a statement released on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on Dec. 3, quoting the same figures. “Persons with disabilities must not be treated as an afterthought; they must be fully integrated into every stage of planning, decision-making, and service delivery.”
Meanwhile, Afghanistan is one of only two countries — along with neighboring Pakistan — where wild poliovirus remains endemic. The infectious disease can cause flu-like symptoms, but can also cause severe reactions, including paralysis, disability and death.
The Afghan Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled Affairs says 189,635 disabled people across the country are registered and receiving financial support from the government.
Amiri said his business faces serious competition from cheap imports of textiles, and expressed the hope that the government would stop imports from abroad. He has hopes of getting a contract to provide the Afghan security forces with socks, and wants to expand his workforce to 2,000 people.
His current employees include former refugees who have recently returned to Afghanistan after spending years abroad.
One such man is Mohammad Arif Jafari, 40, an economics graduate and polio survivor who lived in Iran for years. Returning to Afghanistan has been hard, he said.
“I suffered a lot due to unemployment. But fortunately, now I produce several types of socks,” he said while selling his wares from a stall on the streets of Herat. “I am happy that I am working here and earning an income.”
A double amputee since a roadside bomb took both his legs a decade ago, when Afghanistan was mired in conflict between US-led forces and Taliban insurgents, the 36-year-old father of four had struggled to find work. Unemployed for the last decade, he had been forced to rely on relatives for his family’s survival.
But a new sock production workshop in Herat employing only disabled workers has given him new hope.
“I became disabled due to the explosion. Both my legs were amputated,” Shahabuddin, who like many Afghans goes by only one name, said during a brief pause in his work in early December. “Now I work here in a sock factory, and I am very happy that I have been given a job here.”
The workshop is the brainchild of Mohammad Amiri, 35, a former grocery shop worker who started the business about a month ago. Amiri, himself disabled by childhood polio, wanted to create jobs and help provide income for other people with disabilities, particularly as many of them were injured during the conflict and have no other means of income.
He teamed up with another polio survivor to start the sock factory with a workforce of men disabled either through traumatic injuries or because of congenital issues or other reasons. They make four types of socks: long and short, for winter and summer.
“The factory, which is funded and supported by people with disabilities, began operations last month and currently employs around 50 people with disabilities,” Amiri said. “They are busy in the production, packaging and sale of socks in the city.”
A combination of decades of conflict, a weak health care system and struggling economy have contributed to high levels of disability in Afghanistan. Data from a 2019 Model Disability Survey conducted by The Asia Foundation nonprofit organization indicates that nearly 25 percent of adults live with a mild disability, while 40 percent have moderate and about 14 percent have severe disabilities.
“These figures compel us to act with greater urgency and commitment,” the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said in a statement released on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on Dec. 3, quoting the same figures. “Persons with disabilities must not be treated as an afterthought; they must be fully integrated into every stage of planning, decision-making, and service delivery.”
Meanwhile, Afghanistan is one of only two countries — along with neighboring Pakistan — where wild poliovirus remains endemic. The infectious disease can cause flu-like symptoms, but can also cause severe reactions, including paralysis, disability and death.
The Afghan Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled Affairs says 189,635 disabled people across the country are registered and receiving financial support from the government.
Amiri said his business faces serious competition from cheap imports of textiles, and expressed the hope that the government would stop imports from abroad. He has hopes of getting a contract to provide the Afghan security forces with socks, and wants to expand his workforce to 2,000 people.
His current employees include former refugees who have recently returned to Afghanistan after spending years abroad.
One such man is Mohammad Arif Jafari, 40, an economics graduate and polio survivor who lived in Iran for years. Returning to Afghanistan has been hard, he said.
“I suffered a lot due to unemployment. But fortunately, now I produce several types of socks,” he said while selling his wares from a stall on the streets of Herat. “I am happy that I am working here and earning an income.”
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