A French court handed far-right leader Marine Le Pen a five-year ban on running for office on embezzlement charges Monday, dashing her ambitions of standing in the 2027 presidential race unless she successfully appeals.
She also received a four-year prison sentence, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
A French court found Marine Le Pen guilty Monday in an embezzlement case and followed up the verdict with a sentence barring her immediately from running for office for five years. Le Pen abruptly left the Paris courtroom before hearing how long she will be banned from running for public office.
Le Pen and 24 other officials from her National Rally were accused of having used money intended for European Union parliamentary aides to pay staff who worked for the party between 2004 and 2016, in violation of the 27-nation bloc’s regulations. Le Pen and her co-defendants deny wrongdoing.
