Paris, France | AFP | Wednesday 02/04/2024 – Jean-Marie Le Pen, 95 years old, was placed “under legal protection regime”, a measure which might compromise the participation of the “Menhir” in his trial, scheduled for the fall, in the the affair of European parliamentary assistants.

The former president of the National Front (renamed RN) was placed “under legal protection”, said RN vice-president Louis Aliot on Wednesday.

Since mid-February, he has been the subject of “a future protection warrant”, his lawyer, Me François Wagner, detailed to AFP, confirming information from RMC.

This civil provision, comparable to guardianship, was activated at the request of the family by the local court of Puteaux (Hauts-de Seine), following a medical expertise establishing the incapacity of Jean-Marie Le Pen.

She made her three daughters – Marie-Caroline, Yann and Marine Le Pen – her agents, allowing them to carry out various acts in their father’s name, alone or in concert.

According to several of those close to him, Jean-Marie Le Pen has seen his health decline significantly since a heart attack in April 2023.

From now on, the question of his ability to participate in his trial in the affair of the assistants of MEPs, scheduled from September 30, is raised.

“I think that the court will have to pronounce a measure stating that he can neither surrender, nor testify, nor participate in this trial,” considered Wednesday on BFMTV/RMC Louis Aliot, also prosecuted in this case.

The Paris criminal court must rule on this point on July 3, following advice from medical experts.

“Mr. Le Pen can no longer move around and his faculties are considerably impaired,” Me François Wagner told the court during a preparatory hearing.

If the activation of the future protection mandate does not automatically make it impossible to appear, it nevertheless constitutes an indicator of the state of health.

The magistrates will have to note both Jean-Marie Le Pen’s inability to travel, but also “his lack of capacity to be able to apprehend the charges”, explained a judicial source.

The court might thus find that Jean-Marie Le Pen cannot fully ensure his defense and order the “disjunction” of his case from the rest of the file, which would send him to a separate trial, sine die, pending a illusory recovery.

– “Hindered” defense of other defendants –
This hypothesis of a main trial without Jean-Marie Le Pen would further complicate an already sprawling case.

Among the defendants, in addition to the former president of the National Front, are Marine Le Pen, Louis Aliot, now vice-president of the RN and mayor of Perpignan, the former number 2 of the party Bruno Gollnisch, the executive vice-president of Reconquest! Nicolas Bay, the former treasurer of the FN Wallerand de Saint-Just or the deputy and spokesperson for the RN Julien Odoul.

Former MEP Jean-François Jalkh is also targeted, but he too might be subject to a dismissal of his case, for health reasons.

In total, around ten people who were elected MEPs on National Front (now RN) lists, twelve others who were their parliamentary assistants, as well as four party collaborators must be judged.

But, if Jean-Marie Le Pen and Jean-François Jalkh were ultimately not to appear, the defense of many defendants – starting with those of their assistants – might be “hindered”, underlined several sources close to the case, highlighting emphasizes “the indivisibility of proceedings”.

The investigation began in March 2015. The European Parliament announced that it had referred possible irregularities committed by the National Front concerning salaries paid to parliamentary assistants to the EU anti-fraud office.

The magistrates suspect the far-right party of having “concertedly and deliberately” set up a “system of embezzlement” of the envelopes (21,000 euros per month) allocated by the European Union to each MP to pay parliamentary assistants.

The latter would have actually worked all or part for the FN, thus allowing it substantial salary savings.

The European Parliament, the civil party, assessed its damage in 2018 at 6.8 million euros for the years 2009 to 2017.