Marine Le Pen sentenced on appeal to 3 years, with 1 custodial, eligible in 2027
The Paris Court of Appeal has sentenced Marine Le Pen for misappropriation of public funds, with the ineligibility reduced to 15 months already served. She has lodged a cassation appeal and confirms her candidacy for the 2027 presidential election.
Trial of National Rally assistants: Le Pen sentenced on appeal but authorised to run for the Élysée
The Paris Court of Appeal sentenced Marine Le Pen on Tuesday 7 July to three years in prison — comprising two years suspended and one year custodial, which can be served with an electronic monitoring bracelet — as well as a 100,000 euro fine for misappropriation of public funds, according to France 24 - France. Her ineligibility sentence has been reduced to 45 months, of which 30 months are suspended, meaning a custodial sentence of 15 months already considered as served.
Ineligibility erased, candidacy confirmed
The custodial ineligibility sentence of 15 months expired on 30 June 2026, due to the provisional enforcement ordered at first instance on 31 March 2025. Marine Le Pen is therefore eligible to stand in the presidential election of 18 April and 2 May 2027, and can formalise her candidacy.
Appearing on TF1's 20:00 news bulletin that same evening, the leader of the National Rally announced her cassation appeal and confirmed she was "a candidate for the presidential election". The appeal has a suspensive effect on the Court of Appeal's judgment: pending the Court of Cassation's decision, expected within 12 to 18 months, Le Pen can campaign without an electronic monitoring bracelet.
The role of the Court of Cassation
The Court of Cassation, the supreme court of the French judiciary, does not rule on the merits of the case but on the correct application of the law. It can either quash the Court of Appeal's decision wholly or partly and refer the case to another court, or reject the appeal, in which case the sentence handed down on appeal becomes enforceable.
The Court of Cassation has indicated that it intends to hand down its decision before the first round of the presidential election, scheduled for 18 April 2027.
The question of the electronic monitoring bracelet
Marine Le Pen is in principle required to serve her twelve months custodial sentence with an electronic monitoring bracelet, a period running until early July 2027. She had stated on several occasions that she would not stand if she had to campaign with such a device.
However, like any convicted person, she may benefit from a reduction in sentence of up to six months, which would free her from this constraint from the start of 2027. And as long as the Court of Cassation has not ruled, the sentence on appeal is suspended: no bracelet will be imposed on her in the meantime.
A system of fictitious positions between 2004 and 2016
The case concerns a system of fictitious positions organised in the European Parliament by the National Front — which became the National Rally — between 2004 and 2016. Employees paid from funds intended for European Parliament assistants were in fact working, in whole or in part, for the benefit of the party's activities rather than for the MEPs to whom they were officially assigned.
At first instance, the Paris correctional court assessed the damage at 2.9 million euros. The European Parliament, as a civil party, for its part estimated this amount at 4.6 million euros.
When reading the judgment, the president of the Court of Appeal, Michèle Agi, emphasised the seriousness of the facts: "The facts are serious still, because they persisted […] and only ended with the complaint filed by the president of the European Parliament."
Eleven people and the National Rally also sentenced
Marine Le Pen was not the only defendant in this case. At first instance, in March 2025, 24 people as well as the party had been sentenced. Eleven people and the National Rally had subsequently appealed to the Paris Court of Appeal.
Among the appellants were five former MEPs — Bruno Gollnisch, Fernand Le Rachinel, Louis Aliot and Nicolas Bay, in addition to Le Pen herself —, four former parliamentary assistants — Catherine Griset, Guillaume L'Huillier, Julien Odoul and Timothée Houssin —, as well as the party's accountant and treasurer, Nicolas Crochet and Wallerand de Saint-Just. Jeanne Pavard, an assistant at the time of the facts, had withdrawn on 22 October 2025: the first-instance decision is therefore final in her case.
On Tuesday, the Paris Court of Appeal again sentenced eleven of these people as well as the National Rally for misappropriation of public funds.
The submissions of the public prosecutor
On 3 February 2026, the public prosecutor at the Paris Court of Appeal had submitted against Marine Le Pen a request for four years' imprisonment with one year custodial, a 100,000 euro fine and five years' ineligibility, without provisional enforcement. The Court of Appeal ultimately handed down a sentence less than the submissions on the length of imprisonment and substantially reduced on ineligibility.
Source: France 24 - France