PARIS, July 7 (Xinhua) -- The Paris Court of Appeal on Tuesday upheld the Paris Court's guilty conviction, which found Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally (RN) party in the French parliament, guilty of embezzling public funds to pay ghost European parliamentary assistants, but softened the sentence.
According to the Paris Court of Appeal, Le Pen was sentenced to three years in prison, comprising a two-year suspended sentence and one year to be served outside prison under electronic monitoring, and fined 100,000 euros (114,000 U.S. dollars). Additionally, she was barred from holding public office for 45 months, with 30 months of that ban suspended.
With the period of ineligibility reduced on appeal, Le Pen remains eligible in principle to run in the 2027 presidential election, according to French media analysis.
Le Pen was convicted in late March 2025 for embezzling funds from the European Parliament. Her sentence included a five-year ban from holding public office, effective immediately, a four-year prison term, with two years served under electronic monitoring, and a fine of 100,000 euros. The ineligibility provision barred her from running in the 2027 presidential election or in any snap parliamentary vote until 2030.
Le Pen filed an appeal with the Paris Court of Appeal in April last year.
Le Pen has run for president three times, advancing to the runoff in the 2017 and 2022 elections but losing to President Emmanuel Macron on both occasions. ■