European Parliament suspends Le Pen
French far right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen had been banned from taking his seat in the European Parliament for a year following a court ruling last month.
Parliament President Pat Cox announced Le Pen had been suspended from the European Union assembly since April 10, when the EU’s Court of First Instance upheld an earlier ban on his membership.
Le Pen has been member of the 626 member EU assembly since 1979.
“Mr Le Pen ceases to be a member, and he will be replaced,” Cox told the assembly in Strasbourg. “Parliament in this case, is complying with the court decision.”
The EU court dismissed a complaint from Le Pen over a year long ban from politics he received from French authorities in 2000, after he was convicted of assaulting a Socialist opponent at an election rally.
Le Pen finished a surprise second in last year’s French presidential elections, behind the incumbent Jacques Chirac.
He is expected to run for his sixth consecutive European Parliament term at elections next year.
