Marine Le Pen speaks for first time after being barred from French presidential election

31 March 2025, 07:36 | Updated: 31 March 2025, 23:44

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has said that barring her from running for public office for five years is a "political decision" aimed at preventing her from running in the next presidential election.

The National Rally leader, who left court before the verdict was read out, was found guilty in an embezzlement case.

She was also given a four-year jail sentence, with two years suspended and two which will be served with an electronic tag. She is not expected to serve any jail time.

Le Pen, who also received a €100,000 (£83,635) fine, will make an appeal against her conviction, her lawyer Rodolphe Bosselut later said.

The 56-year-old is a three-time presidential contender who has previously said the next election in 2027 would be her final run for top office.

The ban, which comes into force immediately, ends those hopes unless she successfully appeals before the campaign.

Speaking to French TV channel TF1 in her first reaction to the verdict, Le Pen said millions of French people "are outraged".

Calling the verdict a violation of the rule of law, she said she would appeal it and asked that court proceedings take place before the 2027 campaign.

"If that's not a political decision, I don't know what is," Le Pen said.

The ruling marked a "fateful day for our democracy", she added, as she vowed to keep pursuing what she called the now "admittedly narrow" path to the presidency.

"There are millions of French people who believe in me, millions of French people who trust me," she said, adding: "For 30 years I've been fighting for you, and for 30 years I've been fighting against injustice, so I'm going to continue fighting."

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Le Pen and 24 other National Rally officials were accused of diverting more than €3m (£2.51m) of European Parliament funds to pay France-based staff working for her party between 2004 and 2016.

The judge also handed down guilty verdicts to eight other current or former members of Le Pen's party who, like her, previously served as MEPs in the European Parliament.

Another 12 people, who served as parliamentary aides for Le Pen and her party, were also handed guilty verdicts.

The ruling at a court in Paris described the embezzlement as "a democratic bypass" that deceived the parliament and voters.

Judge Benedicte de Perthuis ruled: "It was established that all these people were actually working for the party, that their (EU) lawmaker had not given them any tasks.

"The investigations also showed that these were not administrative errors... but embezzlement within the framework of a system put in place to reduce the party's costs."

Le Pen left the court before the completion of the verdict and sentencing and did not address the media outside before being driven away in a car.

She had denied accusations she was at the head of "a system" meant to siphon off EU funds to benefit her party.

Hearings revealed how some EU money was used to pay for Le Pen's bodyguard - who was once her father's bodyguard - as well as for her personal assistant.

The defendants denied any wrongdoing and claimed the money was used legitimately.

The nine-week trial took place at the end of last year.

Le Pen has been seen as one of the leading contenders to succeed President Emmanuel Macron at the end of his second and final term.

She was the runner-up to Mr Macron in the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections.

Reacting to the verdict, National Rally president Jordan Bardella said: "Today it is not only Marine Le Pen who was unjustly condemned: It was French democracy that was killed."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia does "not want to interfere in France's internal affairs" but added: "More and more European capitals are going down the path of trampling over democratic norms."

Le Pen also serves in France's National Assembly - but there is no impact on the role by the court's ineligibility ruling.

However, if parliament was dissolved for elections, she would not be able to stand.

(c) Sky News 2025: Marine Le Pen speaks for first time after being barred from French presidential election