Marine Le Pen has been banned from running for office for five years and given a prison sentence after being convicted of misappropriating EU funds. But the French far-right leader remains defiant and intends to appeal.

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"Let's be clear, I am eliminated but in reality its millions of French people whose voices have been eliminated," Le Pen told broadcaster TF1, adding she had no confidence in an appeal being heard before the 2027 French Presidential election.

In a combative interview, she nevertheless insisted that she would "no way" be retiring from political life.

"I am going to appeal because I am innocent," she said. "I'm not going to let myself be eliminated like this. I'm going to pursue whatever legal avenues I can. There is a small path. It's certainly narrow, but it exists."

Prosecutors alleged that the money in question was used to pay France-based party staff between 2004 and 2016, violating EU rules.

The ban will last for five years, as demanded by prosecutors. She has also been handed a four-year prison term, with two years as a suspended sentence and two to be served under house arrest with an electronic tag.

During sentencing earlier on Monday, Le Pen left the court dramatically before anything was said about the duration of the ban.

Le Pen's political future

Prosecutors asked that Le Pen face an immediate five-year ban from public office if found guilty, regardless of any appeal process.

This would prevent her from running in the 2027 presidential election, where she is a leading contender. Her lawyers said they would appeal the verdict. This would trigger a retrial, likely in 2026, just months before the vote.

Even with an appeal, however, the ban kicks it immediately.

Le Pen's party said the trial is a judicial overreach, similar to what US President Donald Trump had said about his legal troubles in the past.

"With provisional execution, the judges have the power of life or death over our movement," she said. "But I don't think they'll go that far."

Some of her rivals, including Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, have expressed concern over courts deciding who can run for office.

RN president Jordan Bardella, 29, has been tipped as a potential replacement for Le Pen at the 2027 presidential election. He, however, is not expected to match her electoral appeal.

The judge on Monday also handed down guilty verdicts to eight other members of her party who, like Le Pen, served as lawmakers in the European Parliament.

Twelve parliamentary assistants were also found guilty.

Mixed reactions at home and abroad

The Kremlin slammed the court's ruling, alleging that it was another indication that democracy was under threat in Europe.

"More and more European capitals are going down the path of violating democratic norms," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose Fidesz party forms part of the European far-right spectrum, also offered his "support" after hearing the news of the court's verdict.

One of the angriest reactions came from Italy's deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, who leads the far-right League party. He called the verdict a "declaration of war by Brussels."

Full text:

GLOBALISM - Every leader who dares challenge the establishment meets the same fate, prosecution, imprisonment, or exile.

Marine Le Pen in France. Bolsonaro in Brazil. Imran Khan in Pakistan. Salvini in Italy. Trump in America. Calin Georgescu in Romania.

Different countries, same playbook. The system doesn't defeat its opponents at the ballot box .... it destroys them in the courtroom.

If the people don't choose who the globalists want, their choice is simply erased. The illusion of democracy is just that.

But in the end, the people and not Klaus Schwab and his system will decide

Full text:

Vaccine Guru Peter Marks Resigns From FDA FDA Director of Biologics Evaluation and Research writes vaccine catechism resignation letter after purportedly being told to beat it. Marks along with his departed commissioner Robert Califf, MD, will be most remembered for ignoring >19K well-documented, COVID-19 vaccine deaths. The products were not halted, not investigated. Marks, Califf and their superiors, never asked why so many Americans are dying after the shot. The largest biological product safety disaster in US history occurred on their watch. By author and historian John Leake.