French presidential hopeful and far-right figure-head, Marine Le Pen, has been banned from running for political office for five years after she was found guilty of embezzling European Union funds.
Le Pen, her National Rally (RN) party and more than 20 of its members were convicted of using European Parliament money to pay staff who were, in fact, working for RN in France.
Nine members of the European Parliament, including Le Pen, and 12 assistants were found guilty.
A Paris court also sentenced Le Pen, the frontrunner for the 2027 election to four years in prison, with two years suspended, to be served under house arrest, and a €100,000 ($108,000) fine.
She can appeal, but the ban will stand unless overturned by another court.
Her party, National Rally (RN), was ordered to pay €2 million in fines for the €4.1 million that it was accused of embezzling.
The court ruled that Le Pen had used four party employees as parliamentary assistants, including her personal assistant and her bodyguard, misusing European Union funds for her own political party.
The court ruled that Le Pen and her colleagues embezzled more than €4 million over more than 11 years.
The decision has hampered Le Pen’s ambitions to win the Élysée Palace at her fourth attempt in 2027 when President Emmanuel Macron will be unable to seek a third consecutive term.
The court’s presiding judge, Bénédicte de Perthuis, said Le Pen’s actions amounted to a “serious and lasting attack on the rules of democratic life in Europe, but especially in France.”
She said Le Pen’s immediate ban on standing for office was tied to “democratic public unrest” that would result from the election of a person convicted of embezzlement.
Le Pen’s protégé, Jordan Bardella, who succeeded her as RN’s president, said it was not only Le Pen “who is being unjustly condemned: it is French democracy that is being executed.”
Her niece and a member of the European Parliament for a rival far-right party, Marion Maréchal, said her aunt had “led our side on the path to victory. This is her only guilt, and that is why she is condemned.”
Shortly after Le Pen’s sentencing began, the Kremlin said that her conviction showed Europe was “trampling on democratic norms.”
At the time of her trial, even former Macron ministers protested the idea of her losing the right to stand for office.
