MICHAEL WALSH ~ AMERICAN FREE PRESS: There is no other word for it. The vicious sentence handed down to leading French politician Marine le Pen was a judicial coup against the democratic process.

Nor was this an isolated case. In the European Union, the selection and rejection of political party candidates increasingly involve court judges rather than the electorate. It is a systematic and profoundly sinister attempt to criminalize political opposition. Four similar cases are ongoing.

What we witness in France follows a Romanian court’s embargo of right-wing presidential frontrunner Cǎlin Georgescu, a traditionalist politician who questioned Romania’s membership of NATO and the EU.

Consequently, a court stripped him of the right to participate in presidential elections, which were cancelled after he won 23% of the vote in the first round, far more support than any establishment candidate.

The glib reason? Claims of Russian meddling and irregularities in campaign financing, which turned out to be false.

Across the EU there is alarm about the judiciary’s role in the selection and deselection of electoral candidates. The fate of Marine le Pen has uniquely united the left-wing right-wing and conservative parties.

Political contenders across the spectrum realize that judicial interference in the electoral process could have unintended consequences.

Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, no friend of the conservative right, observed that the charges against Le Pen were “laughable and ludicrous.”

“To make them a jailable offence and a reason to bar her from running in the presidential election is mindboggling.”

During a press conference, Marine le Pen said: “If political magistrates decide who can run and for whom the French people can vote, we’re no longer a democracy.”

Thierry Mariani, an RN party member adds, “The real battle is one of mobilization. Eleven million voters chose the National Rally in the last election. Their voices must be heard.

“Right now, the fight is to ensure Marine Le Pen’s right to run in the presidential election. She remains our candidate as long as there is even a glimmer of hope. A fighter, she’s confident she will win this battle.”

Thierry Mariani added, “This is a politically motivated conviction! Originating from an administrative disagreement with the European Parliament. Her political opponents accuse Marine Le Pen of employing parliamentary assistants to do political work which is precisely what they are supposed to do.”

The accelerating economic and political collapse of the European Union has become a mainstream topic. Due to this, the bloc’s liberal and largely self-appointed political elite are desperately looking for ways to save their skins.

Éric Coquerel of the left-wing La France Insoumise warned, “I don’t agree that things that should be decided by the ballot box are decided by the courts. It will only paint the National Rally as a victim.”

Centrist Prime Minister François Bayrou was seemingly “troubled” by the verdict. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin stated it would be “deeply shocking” if Le Pen were barred from elections. He insisted she must be defeated “at the ballot box, not elsewhere.” 

The vindictiveness of politicized magistrates is best seen in the disparity in the sentencing.

France’s Christine Lagarde, in 2016 was found guilty of negligence in approving a massive €400 million payout of taxpayers’ money to oligarch/politician Bernard Tapie during her time as Finance Minister (2007-2011).

Despite this conviction for mishandling vast sums of public funds, Lagarde faced no jail time, and no fine. Curiously, the court decided her conviction “would not constitute a criminal record.”

Christine Lagarde continued as head of the International Monetary Fund without interruption. She was later rewarded with the presidency of the European Central Bank in 2019, one of the most powerful economic positions in Europe. 

The cynical RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan tweeted about the disparity. Within hours her post on X collected more than 1 million views, 30 thousand reposts and 88 thousand likes.

In the ivory towers of the European Union, an indigestible strategy is emerging: when the liberal elite cannot win at the ballot box, they will simply change the rules of the game. 

The naked cynicism of this maneuver is breathtaking. Prosecutors took the unusual step of requesting Le Pen’s immediate ban from running for office rather than waiting until the appeals process concluded.

The judges cited the “gravity” of her crime, while conveniently ignoring similar cases involving establishment figures that resulted in no meaningful consequences.

This is not justice; this is not winning; this is how you create martyrs. Have the architects of this judicial assault learned nothing from the Trump trials, where each indictment only fortified his support?

Within hours of the court’s findings, National Rally added 20,000 members whilst the accusing magistrates after going into hiding were provided with special protection.

By circumventing the democratic process to eliminate an electoral threat, France’s establishment reveals not strength but profound weakness, and a dangerous willingness to sacrifice democratic principles on the altar of political expediency.

The last President of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev once remarked: ‘Why is the EU trying to recreate the USSR?’ Well, we know what happened to the USSR, don’t we? TELL US WHAT YOU THINK

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