A French court has imposed a jail sentence on far-right leader Marine Le Pen and barred her from seeking public office after it found her guilty of embezzling European Union funds.
The Paris court ruled on Monday that Le Pen used more than 3 million euros ($3.3m) of European Parliament funds to pay members of her National Rally (RN) party.
In the sentencing, the chief judge announced that the nationalist politician would not be allowed to run for office for five years, effective immediately. A four-year jail sentence was also imposed, with two years suspended and the remaining two to be served using an electronic tag rather than in custody.
Le Pen was also ordered to pay a fine of 100,000 euros ($108,000), while RN was issued with a 2-million-euro ($2.16m) fine.
“The court took into consideration, in addition to the risk of reoffending, the major disturbance of public order if a person already convicted … was a candidate in the presidential election,” said presiding Judge Benedicte de Perthuis.
The ruling threatens to push Le Pen out of the 2027 presidential race, in which she is currently the frontrunner, according to opinion polls.
The nationalist leader said the court’s decision was “political” and aimed to block her from the next election. Speaking to French TV channel TF1 in her first reaction to the verdict, Le Pen said that millions of French people “are outraged,” adding that the ruling was a violation of the rule of law.
Rodolphe Bosselut, her lawyer, said he would formally request that the appeal take place before 2027, setting the stage for a potentially lengthy legal battle.
The French High Council for the Judiciary said threats against magistrates after the Le Pen verdict cannot be accepted in a democratic society.
In a statement, the council expressed concern over the virulent reactions to the decision, saying those reactions could put the independence of the judiciary into question.
New far-right face?
“If Marine Le Pen can’t run, that would change the landscape of the French far right and its prospects,” said Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler from the Paris court. “Most likely it would be Jordan Bardella to take her place, the current president of RN.
“But he is much younger and not the same kind of dominant force as Marine Le Pen,” she added. “He’s not the figure that so many in France know, and so some say he would likely find it tougher in the 2027 race.
“Others say a fresh face may be what’s needed.”
Guilty verdicts were also handed down against eight other members of RN who served as legislators in the European Parliament when the funds were diverted, as well as 12 parliamentary assistants.
Reaction from nationalists in support of the RN leader was swift. Bardella said French democracy has been “executed” with the “unjust” verdict and called for a peaceful “mobilisation”.
“With our popular and peaceful mobilisation, let’s show them that the will of the people is stronger,” he said on X.
Bruno Gollnisch, a member of RN, told Al Jazeera the verdict will strengthen the party’s popularity instead of reducing it.
“It [RN] will gain its strength within the people; the people will find this verdict very unfair, unjust,” Gollnisch said. “Everybody understands that it’s a political judgement [and that] this prosecution has been incredibly unfair,” he said, adding the court’s decision is the latest in a number of moves reflecting judges’ political bias.
Le Pen’s far-right rival Eric Zemmour slammed the sentence and insisted that the RN leader has the right to present herself to the electorate.
However, political rivals in France noted that Le Pen herself has often demanded tough justice for lawbreakers, and even that politicians found guilty of corruption should be barred from office for life.
Socialist MP and former president Francois Hollande said: “The only reaction I can have as a former French president is to respect the independence of the judicial system … Ms. Le Pen, like all the other convicted people, can go to the appeals court for even the ineligibility ruling.”
‘Democratic norms’
But the outcry, particularly on the political right, was not limited to France alone. In the United States, for instance, the administration of President Donald Trump compared Le Pen’s case to the Republican leader’s own legal woes.
“Exclusion of people from the political process is particularly concerning given the aggressive and corrupt lawfare waged against President Trump here in the United States,” US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said on Monday.
Russia also criticised the decision, despite Moscow’s demand that other countries not interfere in its internal affairs.
“More and more European capitals are going down the path of violating democratic norms,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who fashions himself as a leader of “patriotic” EU states, offered Le Pen support, posting on X: “Je suis Marine!” (“I am Marine.”)
Italy’s far-right Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, meanwhile, appeared to have confused his geography, as he labelled the verdict “a declaration of war by Brussels”.
“I trust she will win the appeal and become president of France,” said Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders.
However, MEP Daniel Freund, who chairs the anti-corruption working group in the European Parliament, noted that the case against Le Pen was the largest fraud case in the history of the legislative body.
“The French judiciary shows that the rule of law applies to everyone, regardless of polling numbers,” he said.
