Paris Appeal Court to Rule on Marine Le Pen Embezzlement Appeal

A Paris appeal court will issue its verdict Tuesday at 13:30 local time on Marine Le Pen's appeal of an embezzlement conviction that bars her from public office for five years. BBC News reported the decision will determine whether the 57-year-old National Rally leader can stand in the first round of the 2027 French presidential election on 18 April.

Le Pen was found guilty on 31 March 2025 of embezzling €1.4m in European Parliament funds between 2004 and 2016 to pay National Rally employees instead of parliamentary assistants.

She served as a member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2017. The lower court also sentenced her to a four-year jail term, with two years suspended and two years to be served at home under an electronic tag. Prosecutors are seeking to uphold the five-year ban on holding public office along with a four-year jail term that would include one year served with an electronic tag.

Le Pen has stated she is not afraid of the decision but believes it would not be possible to run for president while wearing a tag. She told LCI that whatever the outcome she would continue to fight for her ideas. If barred, Le Pen has said she would support her designated stand-in, 30-year-old National Rally chairman Jordan Bardella, with great energy and conviction.

Bardella has told supporters he remains committed to seeing Le Pen elected president. Twelve other National Rally members convicted in the same case also appealed, including Louis Aliot, who received a six-month jail sentence with an electronic tag, and Catherine Griset, who was barred from public office for two years. Le Pen leads current opinion polls for the 2027 election.

She has run for president three times, finishing second to Emmanuel Macron in both 2017 and 2022. She is scheduled to appear on the main 20:00 French television news programme Tuesday night to address her intentions after the verdict.