TOPSHOT-FRANCE-POLITICS-JUSTICE-TRIAL-RN

TOPSHOT - President of the parliamentary group of the French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party, Marine Le Pen (C) leaves the headquarters of the French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party, after a French court sentenced her to a five-year ban on running for office and a prison term in a trial on charges of embezzlement of European public funds, in Paris on March 31, 2025. Marine Le Pen will appeal her conviction for embezzlement of public funds, her lawyer said on March 31, 2025, after a court handed her a five-year ban on running for office. Le Pen was sentenced to a five-year ban on running for office with immediate effect, throwing into doubt her bid to stand for president in 2027. She was also given a four-year prison term but will not go to jail, with two years of the term suspended and the other two to be served outside jail with an electronic bracelet, the court ruled. Including 56-year-old Le Pen, nine figures from her Rassemblement National party were convicted over a scheme where they took advantage of European Parliament expenses to employ assistants who were actually working for the party. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP) (Photo by THOMAS SAMSON/AFP via Getty Images)