His attitude created surprise. Marine Le Pen was tried on Wednesday January 10, 2021 with Gilbert Collard, at the Nanterre court (Hauts-de-Seine) for dissemination of messages that are violent or seriously undermine human dignity. The facts date back to December 16, 2015: the president of the National Rally and the MEP had published pictures of abuses by the Islamic State (IS), in response to Jean-Jacques Bourdin who, according to them, had compared the party to 'extreme right to Daesh, on RMC. During this appearance, the Nanterre public prosecutor's office requested a 5,000 fine against the two political figures. The verdict will fall on May 4, 2021. In the meantime, the daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen wanted to express her disagreement with this claim, in an unexpected way that immediately made the judge react.
According to the journalist of BFMTV Ambre Lepoivre, who relayed several information about the trial on Twitter, Marine Le Pen tried to leave the room, in full hearing. "Madame Le Pen where are you going? It is customary to notify the court before any outing", the judge threw at him. The 52-year-old politician went on to "eclipsed to talk to her lawyer", as our colleague points out. According to Le Figaro, she left the courthouse before the end of the hearing, in denouncing a "political trial".
MLP discreetly leaves the room, the judge interrupts him: "Madame Le Pen where are you going? It is customary to notify the court before any exit. " After this reframing, MLP slips away to speak with his lawyer @BFMTV
– Ambre Lepoivre (@AmbreLepoivre) February 10, 2021
They "take responsibility" for the messages
Prosecuted on the basis of article 227-24 of the Penal Code which indicates that "the fact of disseminating a message of a violent nature or of a nature likely to seriously attack human dignity is punished by three years' imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros when this message is likely to be seen by a minor", Marine Le Pen and Gilbert Collard have "fully assumed responsibility" messages posted on social networks, reports Le Figaro. According to the regional advisor of Hauts-de-France, "it is the crime, not the photographic reproduction of the crime, which undermines human dignity! ". She added: "This is the parallel drawn by some between a gang of assassins and a republican movement which seeks dignity."
"I was a political opponent"
To defend herself, the former candidate for the 2017 presidential election compared the facts with which she is accused the photo of little Aylan – the migrant child stranded on a beach in Turkey – who had toured the world in September 2015. "This photo was published by all French media without the prosecution ever finding a reason to initiate proceedings of any kind. I think that if this procedure was initiated, it is obviously because I was a political opponent. (…) I think that the right to inform requires being able to distribute photos, as shocking as they are ", she hammered, quoted by Le Figaro. As for the prosecutor, he said: "Should we prosecute everyone or no one? It is not possible. There is necessarily a choice to be made, and this choice is made according to the impact on public order that an action can have. In this case, there was a disturbance to public order brought about by this affair. "
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