Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni criticised the verdict of a French court, which deprived the leader of the parliamentary faction of National Rally (RN) Marine Le Pen to run for president in 2027, Italian media reported on Tuesday.
“I do not know the essence of the charges against Marine Le Pen, nor the reasons for such a harsh decision, but I think that no one who cares about democracy can rejoice at a sentence that affects the leader of a major party and deprives millions of citizens of representation,” Meloni said.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump also commented on the verdict, comparing it to the prosecution he himself has faced in the United States.
On Monday, a Paris court found Le Pen and eight MPs from the Rassemblement Nationale guilty in the parliamentary assistants case.
The politician was sentenced to four years in prison, two of which will be suspended, and banned from running for public office for five years. If the sentence is not overturned before the 2027 presidential election, Le Pen will not be able to take part in it.
