Jean-Marie Le Pen, the historical leader of France’s far-right, passed away at the age of 96 on Tuesday, January 7th, at a facility in Garches (Hauts-de-Seine) where he had been admitted several weeks ago. Marine Le Pen, his daughter, learned of the death of her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, during a technical stopover in Nairobi, Kenya, while flying from Mayotte to Paris. The announcement of Jean-Marie Le Pen’s death was made by his family on the same day.
According to the account of our journalist, who was on the same flight as Marine Le Pen, it was the journalists who first received the news of Jean-Marie Le Pen’s passing from the AFP alerts. They promptly informed Marine Le Pen of the tragic event. “Two hours after departing from Mamoudzou in Mayotte, we made a technical stop in Nairobi, Kenya. We turned our phones back on and saw the alerts from AFP announcing Jean-Marie Le Pen’s death,” said Pierrick Bonno, a journalist on the flight.
Upon hearing the news, Marine Le Pen’s press team was immediately informed. The press officer took a photo of the phone screen and showed it to Marine Le Pen. “There was shock among the teams,” confirmed our journalist. Marine Le Pen immediately left her seat and went to the cockpit to “get a signal” and “call her family in France” for about ten minutes.
When she returned to her seat in business class, visibly moved, she wiped away “some tears.” Louis Aliot, the mayor of Perpignan and former partner of Marine Le Pen, was by her side. At this time, Marine Le Pen chose not to speak to the journalists. Her press service indicated that she would not be making any statements, neither during the flight nor upon arrival in Paris, expected around 11 p.m. on the same day.
