'Je suis Marine!' Ruling is fuel for the global right's attack on court authority

The three-word message, sent minutes after the verdict came in, was succinct in its solidarity. "Je suis Marine!" Hungary's Viktor Orbán posted on social media after France's far-right leader Marine Le Pen was found guilty of embezzling European Parliament funds and barred immediately from running for public office.

- Ashifa Kassam

Messages soon came tumbling in from around the world, as rightwing nationalist and populist leaders seized on the ruling to push their own narrative.

Most of them paid little heed to the judges' finding of the key role Le Pen and more than two dozen others had played in a scam that prosecutors alleged had diverted more than €4m (£3.4m) of European Parliament funds to benefit the party.

On Thursday, Donald Trump weighed in, criticising the court's sentencing of Le Pen to four years in prison, of which two years were suspended and the other two are to be served outside jail with an electronic bracelet. "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," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, describing the charge as minor. He added: "FREE MARINE LE PEN."

Opponents of liberal democracy jumped at the chance to peddle their claims that some justice systems are being used as a blunt tool to silence the will of the people. "When the radical left can't win via democratic vote, they abuse the legal system to jail their opponents," wrote Elon Musk. "This is their standard playbook throughout the world."