Marine Le Pen Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison and Banned from Running for President

Marine Le Pen has been sentenced to four years in prison, two of which will be served as a suspended sentence, Le Figaro reports. In addition, the leader of the French far right is banned from running for political office for 5 years.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen and eight French MEPs from her National Rally (RN) party have been found guilty of embezzling funds from the European Parliament by the Paris court.

All defendants, including Marine Le Pen, were sentenced to a penalty of ineligibility. In the case of women, the sentence has immediate effect and lasts for five years. This means she is barred from running in the 2027 presidential election. At issue are funds that the European Parliament allocates to MEPs so that they can hire political advisers. In Le Pen's case, it was concluded that she was using this money to pay people who were already part of her team - such as security guards or secretaries - without ever having hired advisors.

The court estimated that the total loss was 2.9 million euros diverted over more than 11 years, "over three legislatures", as RN MEPs made "the European Parliament pay people who were effectively working for the far-right party".

The 12 assistants tried alongside the MEPs were also found guilty of handling stolen goods.