She pledged to make her trial a political platform.
Promise kept.
Summoned at 1:30 p.m., Marine Le Pen arrived at 1 p.m. at the Nanterre courthouse, giving herself a passage in front of microphones and cameras before appearing at the bar of the 14th chamber of the criminal court.
The boss of the RN and the MEP Gilbert Collard were tried for "spreading a message likely to seriously undermine human dignity, likely to be seen by minors".
An offense for which the prosecutor demanded a 5,000 euros fine against the two defendants.
What she said in the preamble to the press in front of the courtroom, Marine Le Pen therefore repeated to the president of the tribunal at the opening of the proceedings.
Namely that by broadcasting, in December 2015, images of abuses perpetrated by Daesh, she only defended "the honor of her party".
The result, according to her, of an epidermal reaction after having heard the same morning, the journalist Jean-Jacques Bourdin, on the antenna of RMC, to dare a parallel between the identity folds of the RN and the organization Islamic State.
"That a small media marquis could make such a comparison quite simply outraged me to the highest point" she is still angry today, shaking the sides of her long green coat.
"I take full responsibility for it"
In reaction to these remarks, Marine Le Pen therefore released three photographs, embellished with the hashtag "Daesh, that's it" on her official Twitter account: a snapshot of James Foley, an American hostage beheaded by the jihadists, another of a Jordanian pilot burned alive in a cage, and finally that of a Syrian soldier crushed by the tracks of a tank.
Same reflex for Gilbert Collard who, the same day, broadcast the photograph of a disfigured man with a smashed head on his Facebook and Twitter accounts, adding an ironic caption "The weight of words, the shock of sores".
"Daesh, it's been threatening us for years," he supports at the helm.
So understand that we don't appreciate being compared to them.
"
Gilbert Collard leaving the courtroom.
LP / DL
The images in both cases from the propaganda of the Islamic State, Marine Le Pen today denies having selected them herself.
“It was not me who chose them but my community manager” she slips before adding: “but it comes to the same thing, I take full responsibility for it.
"
For the prosecutor, the fact that minors could see these photos is a problem
Because by disseminating these photos, Marine Le Pen and Gilbert Collard - long protected by parliamentary immunities - swear in unison that they had neither the intention to infringe human dignity, nor to expose them to the sight of minors.
Their goal?
To show the whole world that their party, "created over 45 years ago", has nothing to do with the dreaded terrorist organization, contrary to what the star journalist of RMC had suggested.
“It seemed to me that I had the freedom to disseminate his photos, as shocking as they are, insists Marine Le Pen.
These images were copyright free and accessible from any search engine.
For me, it's about information.
"
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Except that in the eyes of the prosecution, it is not the dissemination of these images in itself that poses a problem.
"There is a text that protects minors," recalls the prosecutor.
And before the broadcast, Ms. Le Pen and Mr. Collard were to ensure that no minors were likely to see these messages.
"
An argument that did not waver the boss of the RN still astonished by this referral to court and convinced that the procedure was knowingly "hijacked" for the sole purpose of bringing her to justice.
The pleadings of the lawyers, who demanded the release of the two defendants, were still in progress when Marine Le Pen left the courtroom to appear again before the press.
There in front of the microphones and the cameras, she pursued the political platform and scratched the prosecutor whom she underlined "the indigence of requisitions".
The deliberation will be delivered on May 4.