European lawmakers paved the way Tuesday for French far-right leader Marine Le Pen to lose her parliamentary immunity over her tweeting of images of Islamic State atrocities, officials said.
French prosecutors opened an investigation in December 2015 into the graphic series of tweets by Le Pen, which included a photo of the decapitated body of US reporter James Foley.
The legal committee of the European Parliament on Tuesday backed a request by the prosecutors for Le Pen's immunity as a member of the EU's only elected assembly to be lifted, officials told AFP.
The European Parliament as a whole must now vote on Thursday on the issue, but committee decisions are generally followed by the assembly.
Le Pen has so far refused to attend a police interview over the investigation by police in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, citing her status as an MEP.
Her head of cabinet has however been placed under formal investigation for "the dissemination of violent images".
http://m.france24.com/en/20170228-le-pen-set-lose-eu-parliament-immunity-over-tweets