Marine Le Pen and 24 National Rally members were found guilty of embezzling EU funds to pay party staff, risking Le Pen's future in politics.
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Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally, was found guilty of misappropriation of public funds and barred from running for office for five years "with immediate effect," a Paris court decided on Monday in a crucial moment that will determine Le Pen's political future.
Le Pen was also sentenced to four years in prison, two of which were commuted to wearing an electronic monitoring device, and a €100,000 fine.
The sentence for Le Pen has effectively barred her from running in the 2027 presidential race even if she appeals, in what she described earlier as "political death".
She will have to resign as councillor for the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. She will continue to serve as an MP but will not be able to stand in legislative elections in the event of another dissolution of parliament in the near future.
Eight National Rally MEPs and their twelve assistants have also been found guilty and barred from running for office. The party was fined €2 million.
Le Pen and 24 other National Rally members have been accused of embezzling money intended for European Parliament aides to pay staff who worked for the party over nearly 12 years.
Their full sentences were being read out individually by the court over several hours. Le Pen, sitting in the front row of the courtroom in a blue suit, was visibly shaking her head in disapproval as the verdict was being read. She left without comment before the sentencing ended.
The court estimated that the European Parliament's total loss was €2.9 million, with Le Pen personally embezzling around €474,000.
"There was no personal enrichment … but there was the enrichment of a party," Judge Bénédicte de Perthuis said, claiming it goes against party financing rules.
“Let's be clear: no one is on trial for doing politics, that's not the issue. The issue was whether or not the contracts had been executed", the judge added.
'I don't think they will go as far'
After the trial concluded in November, the state prosecutor demanded guilty verdicts for Le Pen and her co-defendants, who have denied any wrongdoing.
The prosecutor also demanded that Le Pen be fined €300,000, serve up to 10 years in prison, and, crucially, be barred from running for public office with immediate effect for five years if found guilty.
The three judges were not obliged to follow the prosecutor's recommendations.
Le Pen played down fears that the judges would go so far as to bar her from office immediately on Sunday, telling La Tribune Dimanche newspaper: "Personally I'm not nervous. But I can see why people think I might be."
"The judges have the power of life or death over the movement. But I don't think they will go so far as to do it."
She has denied accusations she was at the head of "a system" meant to siphon off EU parliament money to benefit her party, arguing instead it was acceptable to adapt the work of parliamentary aides to the needs of her party's lawmakers.
While testifying, Le Pen told the court: “I absolutely don’t feel I have committed the slightest irregularity, the slightest illegal move.”