French far-right leader Marine Le Pen jailed for four years and banned from politics after embezzlement trial
31 March 2025, 10:08 | Updated: 31 March 2025, 12:30
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been given a four-year sentence after being found guilty of embezzlement.
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She has also been banned from running for public office for five years, meaning she cannot stand in the 2027 French presidential election.
Furious Le Pen left the courtroom as the judge passed sentence.
She and eight other people who were EU lawmakers at the time, along with 12 parliamentary assistants, were found guilty of embezzling funds to fund their French National Rally (RN) party.
She was given a four-year sentence but will not serve any time behind bars. Two years of the sentence were suspended and the other two will be spent with an electronic tag.
She has also been given a €100,000 (£82,635) fine. It is likely she will appeal the jail sentence.
A French court has found France's far-right leader Marine Le Pen guilty of misappropriating EU funds.
Ms Le Pen was runner-up to President Emmanuel Macron in the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections, and her party's electoral support has grown in recent years.
The nine-week trial took place in late 2024.
During her trial she denied accusations she was at the head of "a system" meant to siphon off EU parliament money to benefit her party, which she led from 2011 to 2021.
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She argued instead that it was acceptable to adapt the work of the aides paid by the European Parliament to the needs of the legislators, including some highly political work related to the party, which was called the National Front at the time.
While giving evidence, Ms Le Pen told the court: "I absolutely don't feel I have committed the slightest irregularity, the slightest illegal move."
Hearings showed that some EU money was used to pay for Ms Le Pen's bodyguard - who was once her father's bodyguard - as well as her personal assistant.
Prosecutors asked the court to declare Ms Le Pen guilty and requested a two-year prison sentence and a five-year period of ineligibility.
Ms Le Pen said she felt they were "only interested" in preventing her from running for president.
Prosecutors also requested a guilty verdict for all other co-defendants, including various sentences of up to one year in prison and a two million euro (£1.6 million) fine for the party.
