The French court judges the far -right leader Marine le Pen guilty in the event of embezzlement

Paris – A French court sentenced Marine Le Pen on Monday to embezzlement and prevented him from asking for a public service for five years – a hammer blow to the presidential hopes of the far -right leader and an earthquake for French politics.

Le Pen’s lawyer said she would call on the verdict, but she would remain ineligible while she was doing so and could therefore be excluded from the 2027 presidential race. She was also sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, with two to be reported in supervised residence and two suspended.

The court’s decision was a political and judicial temblor for France, hindering one of the main contenders to succeed President Emmanuel Macron at the end of his second and last mandate. The political implications so wide were so large that even some of Le Pen’s opponents said that the Paris Court of Paris had gone too far.

But it is too early to say how the case will affect voters. Le Pen’s potential elimination could trigger pure and hard supporters, as are the legal problems of US President Donald Trump motivated some of his own. But that could also leave her on the sidelines, deflating what had been her ascending trajectory.

Le Pen herself was not there to hear the chief judge pronouncing the sentence that threw his career in a fall. At that time, she had already left the courtroom after the judge said for the first time that the 56-year-old woman would be prohibited from her duties, without saying at how long.

Although Le Pen did not immediately comment, his supporters quickly expressed their disapproval. Jordan Bardella, her 29 -year -old protégé who could replace her on the ballot in 2027 if she could not run, said on X that Le Pen “was unjustly condemned” and that French democracy was “executed”.

The populist Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, quickly visited social networks to express his support, displaying “I am a marine!” – I am a sailor – on X.

Among the Pen political opponents who expressed discomfort, the conservative legislator Laurent Wauquie, who said that the verdict put “a very heavy weight on our democracy”.

The penalty could prevent Le Pen from doing what would have been his fourth race for the presidency in 2027, a scenario which she previously described as a “political death”. The most recognized figure figure in the party and a formidable activist, Le Pen was a finalist in Macron in the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections, and his party’s electoral support has increased in recent years.

Only a decision of appeal which cancels the ban on the public service could restore its hopes to run. But with the elections at only two years, time is exhausted. There is no guarantee that a court of appeal would rule more favorably and that calls in France can take several years to conclude.

The verdict was a resounding defeat for the national party of the Pen rally, formerly the National Front.

She and 24 other party officials have been accused of having used money for parliamentary aid of the European Union to pay in place the staff who worked for the party between 2004 and 2016, violating the regulations of the 27 countries’ block.

The judge made the verdicts of guilt to eight other current or former members of his party who, like Le Pen, were previously legislators of the European Parliament. There were also 12 people who were parliamentary assistants and three others. Only one defendant was acquitted. All had denied the reprehensible acts.

The chief judge said that Le Pen had been at the heart of a “system” that his party used to siphon funds from the EU parliament, although she said that she did not personally enrich herself. The decision described the embezzlement of funds as “a democratic puncture” which deceived Parliament and the voters.

From the forefront of the court, Le Pen showed no immediate reaction when the judge declared him guilty for the first time. But it has become more agitated because the verdict was made in more detail. She shook her head in disagreement when the judge said that Le Pen’s party illegally used European funds to his own advantage.

“Incredible,” she whispered at some point. She then left without warning, picking up her bag and coming out, her heels clicking on the hardwood floor. The brutal departure left many members of the disbelief in a courtroom while they turned their heads towards the door.

Rodolphe Bosselut, Le Pen’s lawyer, said that he was “dismayed” to the court’s decision, whom he described as “extremely scandalous” and said he would be on appeal.

Electoral ineligibility comes into force immediately, but assignment at home is suspended while it calls.

During the trial of nine weeks which took place at the end of 2024, Le Pen argued that ineligibility “would have the effect of depriving me of being a presidential candidate” and depriving his supporters.

“There are 11 million people who voted for the movement that I represent. So, tomorrow, potentially, millions and millions of French people would be deprived of their candidate in the elections,” she told the panel of three judges.

Le Pen also serves as a legislator in the National Assembly of France, a role not affected by the decision of ineligibility that it can keep for the moment.

But if Macron dissolves parliament again, as he did last year and calls for the first legislative elections, it would not be forbidden to arise.

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Leicester reported the PECQ, in France. Thomas Adamson in Paris and Justin Spike in Budapest contributed.