Marine Le Pen sentenced to three years in prison, one year firm under electronic tag

The leader of the French far-right received a sentence of three years imprisonment, including one year firm to be served under an electronic tag. She was also handed a 45-month disqualification from holding public office, 30 months of which are suspended. This disqualification period, already served, in principle allows her to retain the possibility of running in the 2027 presidential election, subject to the political and legal consequences of this conviction.

The Court of Appeal also found Marine Le Pen and twelve other co-defendants guilty in this case, which involves the alleged irregular use of European public funds to pay parliamentary assistants who, according to the prosecution, worked for the party's internal activities rather than for their mandate as MEPs. Among the other convicted individuals are Nicolas Bay, an MEP since 2014, who received a one-year suspended prison sentence, a 5,000 euro fine, and a two-year suspended disqualification from public office. Wallerand de Saint-Just, the party's former treasurer, was sentenced to three years suspended prison, one year disqualification from public office, and a 50,000 euro fine.

This decision comes at a strategic time for Marine Le Pen, who had made her participation in the 2027 presidential election a major stake. Before the verdict, she had indicated t