Marine Le Pen was convicted of embezzlement on Monday and handed a five-year ban from public office.
The verdict bars the French far-right leader from running in the 2027 presidential race – unless she successfully appeals the judgment.
The judge also gave Le Pen a four-year prison sentence – of which two years are suspended and the rest served under home detention. She was also given a 100,000 euro fine.
She is almost certain to appeal, and neither of those penalties would be applied until her appeals are exhausted.
How did we get here? And what is at stake?
Le Pen, her National Rally party (RN) and some two dozen party figures were accused by prosecutors of diverting over 4.1 million euros ($4.44 million) of European Parliament funds to pay staff working for the party in France.
The defendantssaid the money was used legitimately and that the allegations incorporated too narrow a definition of what a parliamentary assistant does.
Judge Benedicte de Perthuis ruled that Le Pen, along with eight other people who were EU lawmakers at the time and 12 parliamentary assistants, were guilty of embezzling EU funds. The defendants were not accused of pocketing the money, but rather of using EU funds to the benefit of their party.
The court later sentenced Le Pen to a jail sentence of four years, suspended for two years. She would spend the two-year sentence in home detention, not behind bars. It also fined the RF two million euros ($2.16 million), half of which was suspended.
The verdict delivers a massive blow to Le Pen, a three-time presidential contender who has previously said the 2027 vote would be her final tilt at top office.
Polls have shown Le Pen to be a frontrunner in the race after she successfully moved her party towards the mainstream. The RN is the biggest single party in parliament thanks to broadened support amongst younger and blue-collar voters.
Prosecutors had asked judges to impose an immediate five-year ban on Le Pen regardless of any appeal, via a so-called “provisional execution” measure.
Typically in most cases in France, sentences are not applied until any appeals process has run its course. However, if judges apply a provisional execution – as they have now done – the sentence begins immediately.
The provisional execution ban will not see Le Pen removed from her seat in parliament until her mandate ends, though it will prevent her from running in any fresh electoral contest. The five-year provisional execution ban will block her 2027 run.
