French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been blocked from running for President in 2027, after she was found guilty of embezzlement.
On Monday (local time), the Paris Criminal Court found Le Pen and 20 others guilty of embezzling money from the European Union (EU).
The scam involved illegally funnelling money meant to be used for EU parliamentary staff to pay officials in Le Pen’s party, National Rally.
Le Pen has denied the charges and will appeal.
Marine Le Pen
Marine Le Pen is a member of the French Parliament, where she leads far-right political party Rassemblement National (National Rally).
The nationalist, anti-EU party was founded by her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Marine Le Pen was elected as a French member of the continental European Parliament in 2004, where she served for 13 years.
She ran unsuccessfully against Emmanuel Macron at France’s last two presidential elections.
Charges
Last year, Le Pen and 24 others faced trial on charges of misusing EU funds for party purposes.
Prosecutors accused National Rally politicians and aides of deliberately sending money to party officials in France between 2004 and 2016, covering most of Le Pen’s time in the European Parliament.
Under the scheme, the party lied about using the money to pay EU parliamentary staff, instead funding its political organisation.
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Conviction
Judge Bénédicte de Perthuis found Le Pen guilty of overseeing the scheme, worth up to €7 million ($AU12 million).
Le Pen was blocked from running for President for at least five years, barring her from the next presidential election, due in 2027. Macron is also unable to run in this election because of France’s two-term limit on the presidency.
Le Pen was also fined €100,000 ($AU173,000) and sentenced to four years in prison. Two years of the sentence are suspended, and two are to be served under house arrest with an electronic monitor.
Reaction
Following the ruling, Le Pen told French media the conviction was a “political decision” to prevent her from running for President.
As part of the ruling, Judge de Perthuis said: “Let’s be clear: no one is on trial for doing politics.”
Le Pen has vowed to appeal the verdict, saying: “I’m not going to let myself be eliminated like this”.
Fallout
National Rally called the ruling a “democratic scandal”.
In a post online, the party said: “The dictatorship of judges has executed democracy in France!”
Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said threats have since been made against judges in the Paris Judicial Court.
“The threats... are unacceptable in a democracy,” Darmanin said.
