France's far-right National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen was indicted on Friday for "embezzling public funds" over allegations that he had unlawfully spent money allocated to the European Parliament on his team in his country, his lawyers told AFP.
Le Pen, who was a member of the European Council from the 1980s to the current year, was investigated for illegal spending of EU funds after the European Council lifted his immunity in March.
His lawyers said the judges questioned Le Pen for more than four hours about the positions of three of his aides. Le Pen, 91, is "very exhausted," said lawyer Frederick Joachim, describing the case as "interference in the judiciary."
Le Pen used his parliamentary immunity to prevent anti-corruption investigators from questioning him in June last year in a case in which his daughter Marin, the head of the party which became the National Rally, was indicted. Despite losing his immunity, Le Pen refused to appear before the judges.
His daughter Marin deported her father in 2015 over remarks in which he described the Holocaust as a "detail" in World War II history.
Investigators suspect that the National Front used funds from the European Union earmarked for parliamentary aides in Brussels to fund the party's work in France.
It is estimated that between 2009 and 2017, around 7 million euros were allocated to the European Parliament.
Jean-Marie Le Pen was born on June 20, 1928, and racism against immigrants was one of the most important features of the extreme right-wing direction he led. He sparked controversy when he described AIDS sufferers as people who transmit infection through their tears and saliva.
His remarks (in 1987) against the Holocaust as a gas chamber "a detail of the Second World War" sparked controversy, accused of anti-Semitism, and convicted more than once for that.
In 1996, Le Pen blew up the situation when he confirmed in a television statement that he believed in unequal races. "History proves that," he said.