Paris Court of Appeal: Marine Le Pen's conviction upheld, but ineligibility reduced
The Paris Court of Appeal upheld Marine Le Pen's conviction for misappropriation of European funds, whilst reducing her ineligibility sentence to 15 months.
Paris Court of Appeal: Marine Le Pen's conviction upheld, but ineligibility reduced
The Paris Court of Appeal upheld Marine Le Pen's conviction for misappropriation of European Union funds, whilst significantly reducing the duration of her ineligibility.
According to CNN, the court maintained a sentence of three years' imprisonment, with two years suspended. It ordered that the remaining year be served at home under electronic surveillance by bracelet.
Regarding ineligibility, the judges reduced the effective duration to fifteen months only. Technically, this is a forty-five-month ban of which thirty months are suspended. The National Rally leader was also given a fine of 100,000 euros.
This decision theoretically opens the way for Marine Le Pen to be a candidate in the 2027 presidential election, scheduled for April–May of this year. However, wearing an electronic bracelet would make an election campaign difficult logistically and problematic politically.
She had already ruled out running if she had to wear such a device. "When you are a candidate for the presidency, you must be totally free in your movements, and that is not the case if you are wearing an electronic surveillance bracelet," she had stated on the LCI channel the previous week.
Marine Le Pen had been convicted at first instance on 31 March 2025 by the Paris tribunal. She and eleven other National Rally members had been found guilty of having misappropriated funds from the European Parliament to pay for staff working for the party in France. The initial sentence provided for five years' ineligibility with provisional execution, which had prevented any immediate appeal.
At her conviction, the far-right leader had described the verdict as a "political" decision aimed at removing her from the race for the Élysée, speaking of a "dreadful day for our democracy".
Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)