Right-wing politician Marine Le Pen gets two years in prison with an ankle bracelet

By Michael Evers

France - The right-wing nationalist French politician Marine Le Pen will in all likelihood not be able to run in the 2027 presidential election.

Following a conviction for embezzlement of funds through the fictitious employment of staff in the European Parliament, the court in Paris imposed a five-year sentence of ineligibility for political office with immediate effect.

The court also sentenced the 56-year-old to two years in prison with an ankle monitor. A further two years in prison were suspended on probation.

A fine of 100,000 euros was also imposed. The politician left the courtroom before the presiding judge announced the full verdict and sentence against Le Pen.

The verdict can be appealed. However, it is generally considered unlikely that an appeal process would lead to a quick result.

For the right-wing party and Le Pen's political ambitions, the outcome of the trial is a disaster. The temporary loss of the right to stand for election is a common punishment in France when politicians are convicted of corruption and breach of trust.

Nevertheless, it is considered sensitive due to Le Pen's great popularity - even moderate politicians had expressed concerns as it could fuel the narrative that the verdict was politically motivated to prevent Le Pen from becoming president.

"It is my political death that is being demanded with provisional execution, and that is, I believe, the aim of this operation from the outset," Le Pen said in response to the prosecution's demand that her ineligibility for political office be implemented provisionally and immediately before the verdict becomes final.

Irrespective of this, Le Pen is expected to appeal against the verdict and face a long road through the courts. Until the end of the parliamentary term, however, Le Pen can continue to sit as a member of parliament, where she is leader of the parliamentary group.

The central accusation in the trial was that Le Pen's Rassemblement National party had received money from the European Parliament for parliamentary assistants who had worked for the party in part or in full. The affair had been weighing on Le Pen and her party for years.

Le Pen had always denied the accusations in the affair surrounding the possible bogus employment of EU staff. "I do not feel that I have committed the slightest irregularity, the slightest illegality," she said during the trial.

Along with her, eight other members of her party in the European Parliament were found guilty, as well as 12 parliamentary assistants.

At issue was the possible fictitious employment of assistants by several French MEPs.