A French appeals court has upheld the conviction of far-right leader Marine Le Pen for misusing EU funds. However, the court reduced the ban on her running for office to 15 months, making it possible for her to participate in the 2027 presidential election while wearing an electronic ankle monitor.
Conviction and Sentence
Le Pen was originally barred from public office in March 2025, when a Paris court found her and 11 other National Rally members guilty of embezzling European Parliament funds to pay the party’s staff in France. The appeals court ruled that Le Pen must serve a three-year jail term, with two years suspended, and ordered her to serve one year at home with an electronic monitoring tag.
The court also gave her a €100,000 fine. Le Pen had previously stated that she would not run for office if she had to wear an ankle tag, citing the need for a presidential candidate to be completely free to move about.
Original reporting: El Paso News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
