Paris Appeals Court Cuts Le Pen Office Ban, Orders Electronic Monitor

A Paris appeals court on July 7, 2026, found Marine Le Pen guilty of embezzling public funds and ordered her to wear an electronic bracelet for one year. The same ruling shortened her ban on seeking public office from five years to 45 months with two-thirds suspended, leaving the remaining obstacle removed after she has already served 15 months.

The court also reduced her prison sentence from four years, two suspended, to three years with two suspended.

It upheld guilty verdicts for all 11 defendants, including other National Rally members, and declared the party itself guilty of misusing 2.8 million euros over more than 11 years. Le Pen immediately announced she would appeal to France’s Court of Cassation, which she said would suspend the monitoring requirement.

“I will therefore campaign without an electronic bracelet,” she stated in a television interview.

Chief judge Michèle Agi said the facts were serious. Le Pen responded that her hands were clean and that she would pursue every legal avenue to defend her innocence. The Court of Cassation has indicated it will rule before the 2027 presidential election, whose first round is scheduled for April.

Le Pen had previously described a ban that prevented a fourth presidential run as political death. Three days earlier, on July 4, Le Pen embraced National Rally president Jordan Bardella at a rally in Liévin, northern France, where Bardella addressed supporters.

The party, founded in 1972 by her father Jean-Marie Le Pen as the National Front and renamed in 2018, now faces the prospect of her monitored candidacy.