National Rally employee attempts suicide at party headquarters

A National Rally employee attempted suicide this Saturday, June 21, "for personal reasons" at the party's headquarters in Paris, and his life is in danger, the National Rally told AFP, confirming information from Paris Match .

Laurent Salles, 55, a switchboard operator for the National Rally and former parliamentary assistant to Louis Aliot, attempted suicide in the middle of the afternoon and was taken to Lariboisière Hospital. National Rally President Jordan Bardella went to the headquarters.

According to the same source, he acted "for a personal reason, linked to a romantic relationship", and "wrote to relatives" to this effect.

Laurent Salles is one of the 24 co-defendants in the trial of the RN parliamentary assistants. He was sentenced to a six-month suspended prison sentence.

Previously an employee of the party, he was hired in July 2014 by the current number 2 of the National Rally, Louis Aliot , without even having an interview. The investigation, summarized by the court, showed "no trace" of any work by Laurent Salles for Louis Aliot and noted a "single SMS" exchanged in eight months between the two men.

In fact, according to the prosecution, everything suggests that Laurent Salles was actually working for Yann Le Pen (Marine Le Pen's sister) to organize major party events. During the trial, Mr. Salles had wished to exercise his right to remain silent.