PARIS — A French court on Monday convicted Marine Le Pen of embezzlement and barred her from seeking public office for five years — a hammer blow to the far-right leader’s presidential hopes and an earthquake for French politics.
Speaking to French TV channel TF1 in her first reaction to the verdict, Ms. Le Pen called the ruling a “political” move aimed at preventing her from running in the 2027 presidential election and said that millions of French people “are outraged.”
She called the verdict a violation of the rule of law, said she would appeal and asked that the court proceedings take place before the 2027 campaign. She would remain ineligible to be a candidate until the appeal is decided.
Ms. Le Pen also was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, with two to be served under house arrest and two suspended.
The court ruling was a political as well as a judicial temblor for France, hobbling one of the leading contenders to succeed President Emmanuel Macron at the end of his second and final term. So broad were the political implications that even some of Ms. Le Pen’s opponents said the Paris court had gone too far.
But it’s too early to say how the case will affect voters. The potential elimination of Ms. Le Pen could fire up diehard supporters, just as U.S. President Trump’s legal problems motivated some of his. But it could also leave her on the sidelines, deflating what had been her upward trajectory.
Among political opponents of Ms. Le Pen who expressed unease was conservative lawmaker Laurent Wauquiez, who said the verdict put “a very heavy weight on our democracy.”
The sentence could prevent Ms. Le Pen from making what would have been her fourth run for the presidency in 2027, a scenario she has previously described as a “political death.” The party’s most recognized figurehead and a formidable campaigner, Ms. Le Pen was runner-up to Macron in the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections, and her party’s electoral support has grown in recent years.
The verdict was a resounding defeat for Ms. Le Pen’s National Rally party, formerly the National Front.
She and 24 other party officials were accused of having used money intended for European Union parliamentary aides to instead pay staff who worked for the party between 2004 and 2016, violating the 27-nation bloc’s regulations.
From the front row of the court, Ms. Le Pen showed no immediate reaction when the judge first declared her guilty. But she grew more agitated as the verdict was delivered in greater detail. She shook her head in disagreement as the judge said Le Pen’s party illegally used European funds for its own benefit.
“Incredible,” she whispered at one point. She then left without warning, picking up her bag and striding out, her heels clicking on the hardwood floor. The abrupt departure left many in the courtroom in disbelief as they turned their heads toward the door.
During the nine-week trial that took place in late 2024, Ms. Le Pen argued that ineligibility “would have the effect of depriving me of being a presidential candidate” and disenfranchise her supporters.
“There are 11 million people who voted for the movement I represent. So tomorrow, potentially, millions and millions of French people would see themselves deprived of their candidate in the election,” she told the panel of three judges.
