French court upholds Marine Le Pen's conviction and imposes ankle bracelet use, but reduces period of ineligibility

Marine Le Pen gives an interview to TV TF1, in France, after being declared ineligible, on March 31, 2025
Thomas Samson/Pool via Reuters
The French appeals court confirmed the conviction of Marine Le Penn, the main name of the country's far right, on charges of embezzlement of funds this Tuesday (7). The sentence was determined to be three years in a closed regime, of which two were suspended and one will be served in an open regime, with the use of an electronic ankle bracelet.
The decision reduced the ineligibility penalty to 45 months, 30 of which were suspended. As she has already served most of the remaining 15 months since her conviction - handed down in 2025 - she will be able to stand in the French presidential elections scheduled for April 2027.
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Le Penn was found guilty of embezzling 1.4 million euros from the European Parliament intended for hiring parliamentary advisors. According to the accusation, between 2004 and 2016, she and other members of her party used European Union money to pay employees who, in practice, worked for the party in France, and not in activities linked to the European Parliament.
The original sentence was criticized by allies in French politics and other countries, who accused the Judiciary of interfering in the democratic dispute. His opponents argued that elected representatives must respond to justice under the same rules applied to any other citizen.
Internal division
The decision should provoke an intense debate within the political party, the Reagrupamento Nacional (RN), which has been preparing for two possible scenarios for months. One of them is led by Le Pen, and the other by the party president, Jordan Bardella.
Bardella has said that he intends to be prime minister in a possible Le Pen government, and not his replacement. However, if she decides not to run, he could assume the party's candidacy.
Voting intention surveys show both Le Pen and Bardella among the favorites to reach the second round of the presidential election. Some recent surveys even indicate that Bardella would have a better performance than Le Pen in the first round of the dispute.

Source: G1