French prosecutors accept court's Le Pen embezzlement ruling, will not appeal to highest court
The Paris prosecutor's office announced on 15 July it will not challenge the appellate ruling that handed Marine Le Pen a three-year prison sentence and a 15-month public-office ban for misusing EU parliamentary funds.
Prosecution closes its chapter
The public prosecutor's office at the Paris Court of Appeal decided on Wednesday, 15 July, not to file an appeal with the Court of Cassation against the 7 July ruling that convicted Marine Le Pen and several Rassemblement National (RN) officials of misappropriating public funds. The decision came after what the prosecution described as a thorough examination of the approximately 400-page judgment.
Following a thorough examination of the judgment issued on July 7 by the Paris Court of Appeal in the so-called 'parliamentary assistants of the Rassemblement National' case, the Prosecutor's Office has decided not to appeal to the Court of Cassation against this decision.
Prosecutors had until 20 July to lodge any appeal. Although the appellate court affirmed the convictions, the penalties it imposed were considerably lighter than what the prosecution had requested. For Le Pen, the prosecution had sought a five-year ban from public office, a sanction that would have effectively barred her from the 2027 presidential race. The court instead imposed 15 months of ineligibility, already served, citing "the freedom of the voter" and "the freedom of candidacies" despite what it called the "gravity" of the facts.
Le Pen's counter-move
Marine Le Pen stated within hours of her conviction that she would appeal to the Court of Cassation herself. She contests the very qualification of the charges as "misappropriation of public funds," arguing that the statute cannot apply to EU parliamentarians, a position that both the trial and appellate judges rejected. Her appeal automatically suspends the portion of her sentence that requires her to serve one year under house arrest with an electronic bracelet.
She has also declared her candidacy for the 2027 presidential election, her fourth consecutive bid. The timing of the Court of Cassation's eventual ruling has therefore become a focal point. The court's chief prosecutor, Rémy Heitz, stated that the institution is on track to deliver its decision before the presidential vote.
We have always said that the decision would be rendered before the presidential election; we are still on that objective.
Other defendants join the appeal
By 15 July, eight appeals had already been lodged with the Court of Cassation, according to the Paris Court of Appeal. The appellants include Le Pen, RN spokesperson and deputy Julien Odoul, former Le Pen economic adviser Nicolas Crochet, parliamentary assistant Guillaume L'Huillier, former FN treasurer Wallerand de Saint Just d'Autingues, MEPs Nicolas Bay and Catherine Griset, and the party itself, the Rassemblement National.
Perpignan mayor and former MEP Louis Aliot has also announced his intention to appeal. Three other defendants, former MEP Bruno Gollnisch, deputy Timothée Houssin, and ex-MEP Fernand Le Rachinel, have not yet declared whether they will do so. The twelve individuals plus the party were re-tried during the appeal proceedings that concluded on 7 July.
What the high court will examine
The Court of Cassation does not re-examine the facts of a case; it rules solely on whether the law was correctly applied. Marie-Suzanne Le Quéau, the chief prosecutor of the Court of Appeal, had given herself "a few days" to scrutinise the 400-page ruling for any flawed legal reasoning. The decision not to appeal signals that her office found none.
Last week the Court of Cassation indicated it expects to rule on Le Pen's appeal "by early April 2027 at the latest." If the appeal is rejected, Le Pen could theoretically be required to wear the electronic bracelet before the first round of the presidential election.
- Paris Court of Appeal convicts Le Pen and RN officials, imposes lighter-than-requested sentences.
- Paris public prosecutor's office announces it will not appeal the ruling to the Court of Cassation.
- Deadline for the prosecution and other parties to file an appeal with the Court of Cassation.
- Court of Cassation targets a ruling on Le Pen's appeal by early April 2027 at the latest, before the presidential election.
Sentence and political stakes
The appellate court's 7 July judgment sentenced Le Pen to three years in prison, including one year of house arrest with an electronic bracelet, a 15-month ban from public office (already served), and a fine of 100,000 euros. The ruling keeps her eligibility intact for now, but a future ruling from the Court of Cassation could alter that calculation. The case centres on the FN/RN's use of European Parliament funds to pay staff who were actually working for the party in France rather than for its MEPs.
