Le Pen: I'm Defying Order for Psych Evaluation

Far-right leader in France says it shows how far her political opponents will go
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 20, 2018 9:40 AM CDT
Le Pen: I'm Defying Order for Psych Evaluation
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen.   (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, File)

A firebrand politician of the far right in France has been ordered by a court to undergo a psychiatric evaluation—and Marine Le Pen is daring the court to force her to do so. The leader of the National Rally broke the news herself in a (French-language) tweet, saying that the psych evaluation was ordered as part of the charges she faces for posting graphic images of ISIS executions, reports Reuters. "I thought I had been through it all: well, no!" she wrote. "For denouncing the horrors of [ISIS] by tweets the 'justice system' has referred me for a psychiatric assessment. How far will they go?!" As the Local explains, these evals are standard procedure in such cases, meaning Le Pen isn't being singled out.

"The argument that this is harassment by the judiciary does not hold water," says an official with the magistrates union. "She is a political personality but this is not a political decision." Le Pen, though, may see an opportunity to score political points with her base. "Of course I will not go to this psychiatric assessment and I will wait to see how the magistrate intends to force me," she told a French TV network. The charges stem from Le Pen's decision to post the images, including a photo of decapitated US journalist James Foley, after the Paris terror attacks in November 2015. She was then charged with violating a law that bars the circulation of "violent messages that incite terrorism or pornography or seriously harm human dignity" and that can be viewed by children. (More Marine Le Pen stories.)

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