WASHINGTON, April 4. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump criticized the verdict against Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally faction in the French parliament, as witch hunt and called for her release.
"The Witch Hunt against Marine Le Pen is another example of European Leftists using Lawfare to silence Free Speech, and censor their Political Opponent, this time going so far as to put that Opponent in prison," he wrote on his Truth Social platform. "It is the same ‘playbook’ that was used against me."
"I don’t know Marine Le Pen, but do appreciate how hard she worked for so many years. She suffered losses, but kept on going, and now, just before what would be a Big Victory, they get her on a minor charge that she probably knew nothing about - Sounds like a ‘bookkeeping’ error to me," he said. "It is all so bad for France, and the Great French People, no matter what side they are on. FREE MARINE LE PEN!"
On March 31, a Paris court sentenced Le Pen to four years of restricted freedom in connection with the parliamentary assistants case. For two years she will have to wear an electronic bracelet (the remaining two years are suspended). This ruling disqualifies her from running in the French presidential election in 2027. Le Pen slammed the ruling as politically motivated.