"The agony of liberal democracy" — Zakharova on the verdict of Le Pen

The verdict of the head of the parliamentary faction of the French party "National Association" Marine Le Pen demonstrates the agony of liberal democracy, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Earlier it became known that the Correctional Court of Paris recognized Le Pen was found guilty in the case of embezzlement of funds of the European Parliament and deprived her of the right to be elected for five years, as well as to restriction of liberty for four years.

"The agony of liberal democracy," Zakharova commented.

As reported by the newspaper Le Monde, the punishment takes effect immediately, without waiting for an appeal, so Le Pen will not be able to nominate her candidacy for the upcoming presidential elections in France in 2027, in which she was considered the favorite.

The trial of the head of the "National Association" began in September last year. She and eight other party deputies were accused of embezzling 2.9 million euros by fictitiously hiring assistants to work in the European Parliament. According to the prosecution, as part of the embezzlement scheme, the party received 21 thousand euros per month from the European Union for each deputy's assistant. At the same time, the assistants allegedly actually worked for the National Front. In particular, among the assistants of Le Pen, who was an MEP in 2004-2017, turned out to be an employee of the party headquarters in the suburbs of Paris and the bodyguard of the father of political activist Jean-Marie Le Pen.