03/31/2025

French Court Finds Marine Le Pen Guilty of Fraud

The court also barred her from seeking office for five years

A French court on Monday convicted Marine Le Pen of embezzlement and barred her from seeking public office for five years — a hammer blow to the far-right leader’s presidential hopes and an earthquake for French politics.

Le Pen denounced the verdict in an interview with French TV channel TF1 as a "political" move aimed at preventing her from running in the 2027 presidential election and said that millions of French people “are outraged.

She described the ruling as a violation of the rule of law, said she would appeal and asked that the court proceedings take place before the 2027 campaign. She would remain ineligible to be a candidate until the appeal is decided.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Associated Press.