French far-right head Marine Le Pen paid tribute to her parents, Jean-Marie, on Wednesday, calling the 96-year-old National Front leader a “warrior” in politicians because of their extremely difficult relationship and efforts to mainstream the group.
Le Pen wrote in a post on social media platform X,” A ancient years had taken the hero apart but given us back our father,” suggesting that she was able to reconcile with him.
Jean-Marie, who has three sons, including Marine, the youngest, was a controversial figure, convicted several times of racism, prejudice and inciting racial crime.
” Many people he loved are waiting for him up there. Some who love him grieve him these below”, Le Pen wrote. ” Fair gusts and following lakes, Papa”!
Jean-Marie Le Pen’s passing was revealed on Tuesday when his child was returning from the French province of Mayotte, in the Indian Ocean, which had been hit by a catastrophic storm in December.
Legal issues involving Marine Le Pen Marine Le Pen is commonly regarded as one of France’s leading candidates for the 2027 presidential election. She was runner-up to President Emmanuel Macron half in past elections.
However, her social coming in part depends on the outcome of a Paris court’s ruling on charges of misappropriation of European Parliament money on March 31. If she was found guilty, the court was proclaim her ineligible to run for office.
Le Pen and another party leaders are accused of using funds intended for European Union political advisers to give instead staff members who worked for the group between 2004 and 2016 in violation of the 27-nation bloc’s rules.
Anti-far-right demonstrations Thousands of people celebrated the politician’s passing on Tuesday night at the Republic Plaza in Paris. The group could be seen dance and chanting:” Content New Year, Jean-Marie is dying”.
Similar groups took place in various European cities, including Lyon and Marseille.
European anti-racist group SOS Racisme said Jean-Marie Le Pen spent his life promoting the way right through “racism, xenophobia, hatred and Holocaust denial”. Additionally, the organization paid tribute to “generations of protesters who have dedicated their day, youth, and power to combat the National Front and its ideas” in a statement.
Father-daughter consumer disputes In an appointment in 1987, Jean-Marie referred to the Nazi gas tanks as a “detail in World War II story”.
He repeated the note in 2015, saying he “did not at all” repent it, triggering the indignation of his child, by then the party president, seeking to distance herself from her father’s radical image. That year, he was kicked out of the party, later renamed the National Rally, as part of the younger Le Pen’s efforts to transform it into one of France’s most powerful political forces.
At the time, Jean-Marie publicly denounced a “felony” and asked his daughter to “give back her name”, arguing she should not use” Le Pen” anymore. He also started legal action to challenge his exclusion, which was ultimately unsuccessful.
In May 2024, Marine Le Pen told BFM television that” I had such deep disagreements with my own father that I had to keep him out of the movement.” ” It was complicated for me emotionally, but I did it”.
Jean-Marie Le Pen’s funeral will take place on Saturday in his birth town of La Trinite-sur-Mer, in the western Brittany region.
