00:00Well, Marine Le Pen is expected to be questioned by the three-panel judge this afternoon and tomorrow on Wednesday.
00:07It will be her first opportunity to speak since the opening of the appeal trial last week.
00:13It's expected that the prosecution will grill her on the role of specific individuals at the heart of this case,
00:20including, for example, her chief of staff and her bodyguard.
00:25It's expected they'll use payroll data and travel logs in order to show that these individuals were indeed working for the French Rassemblement National
00:33as opposed to for the European Parliament, as they were supposed to.
00:37Now, Marine Le Pen is not alone.
00:39She's among 11 defendants who are trying to overturn a March 2025 ruling.
00:45That court found her guilty of being at the heart of a massive system of embezzlement of EU funds,
00:52using funds that were supposed to be for parliamentary assistance
00:57and instead using that money to pay her own staff for her French party, the Rassemblement National.
01:04Now, the sentencing, the original sentencing, was heavy.
01:07She was sentenced to four years in prison and a 100,000 euro fine.
01:12But the biggest blow was a five-year ban for running for public office,
01:16and that ban was put in place immediately.
01:19So Marine Le Pen is hoping to be able to overturn that ban so that she can run for the 2027 elections.
01:26Last weekend in Marseille, she told reporters that she was optimistic
01:29and very hopeful that she would be able to convince these judges that she is indeed innocent.
01:36Now, this appeal trial will last until the 12th of February,
01:40and the verdict is expected to be given before the summer of 2026,
01:45before this summer, just in time for her party, the Rassemblement National,
01:49to be able to choose a candidate for the 2027 presidential race.
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