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French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been banned from standing for office for five years with immediate effect and sentenced to jail after being convicted of embezzling EU funds.
Monday’s court ruling is likely to block her from running in the 2027 presidential election, for which she is one of the favourites.
Le Pen, who left the courtroom before her sentence was announced and muttered the word “unbelievable” under her breath, has said she will appeal.
Although the five-year electoral ban will begin immediately, Le Pen’s four-year jail sentence, of which two years are suspended, would only begin once no further legal recourse remains. She was also fined €100,000.
“It is necessary to ensure that elected officials do not benefit from preferential treatment,” said chief judge Bénédicte de Perthuis, in justifying the imposition of a ban with immediate effect.
Le Pen’s ability to run in 2027 will depend on the duration of the appeal process and its ultimate outcome.
“Today, it is not only Marine Le Pen who is being unjustly condemned: it is French democracy that is being executed,” Jordan Bardella, the head of Le Pen’s Rassemblement National party, posted on X.
Matteo Salvini, Italy’s far-right deputy prime minister, compared the sentence to the Romanian authorities’ decision to exclude the former frontrunner Călin Georgescu from the country’s presidential race.
“This is a declaration of war by Brussels,” he posted on X. “We will not be intimidated, we will not stop.”
Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, added that “more and more European capitals are going down the path of trampling democratic norms”.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán posted: “Je suis Marine!”
The court found that a system of fake contracts and jobs helped the RN party siphon off around €4.4mn of EU funds for its operations in France.
Another 24 RN elected officials — including nine former members of the European parliament — were tried for similar offences alongside Le Pen, who was an MEP between 2004 and 2016.
“These were fake contracts,” the chief judge said as she read out the verdict.
She added that while there was “no personal enrichment” for the ex-MEPs involved, they benefited from “a certain financial comfort” as well as financial help to the party.
All nine of the ex-MEPs were also found guilty, while the rulings for other staffers and party officials varied depending on their level of involvement.
In reaching its decisions, the court also took into account the risk of repeat offences and a “major disturbance of public order” if someone who had been sentenced were allowed to run in a presidential election.
Anne-Charlène Bezzina, a constitutional lawyer, said she was concerned about “the broader impact this could have on the perception of democratic institutions — we’re already seeing the Kremlin’s reaction.”
She added that the sentences created “a lot of pressure and distrust towards the judges and the judicial system”.
