Melenchon, leader of the France Unbowed (LFI) party, was convicted on charges of rebellion and provocation by the court in Bobigny outside Paris and ordered to pay a fine of €8,000. "This is a political judgement," Melenchon said as he left the courthouse, saying he had hoped to be acquitted. Melenchon had shoved a prosecutor and an officer in a fit of rage over police raids to search his home and party headquarters. The searches had been carried out as part of two investigations - one into the party's use of European Parliament funds, the other into the funding of Melenchon's 2017 presidential campaign. And French veteran centrist leader Francois Bayrou as well as former defence minister Sylvie Goulard have been charged in a case related to the embezzlement of European Parliament funds.

Source: The Local December 09, 2019 13:30 UTC