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She may have left the courtroom before the end of her sentencing
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but she has no intention of leaving politics. Hours after being barred from running for office for five years with immediate effect
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Marine Le Pen was on national television to plead her case and express her outrage
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The judge very clearly made the decision to make me ineligible with immediate effect
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Making my appeal pointless, in order to prevent me, she says, from running in the election and from being elected
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So it was a political decision that was being made. I believe the rule of law has been totally violated by this decision
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The far-right leader claims she's innocent and says she'll appeal the judge's decision
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But she'll only be able to run in 27 if she obtains a more lenient ruling on appeal
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the timing of which may prove difficult. Le Pen was found guilty on Monday on charges of embezzlement
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and sentenced to a fine of 100,000 euros and a four-year jail sentence
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two of which will be suspended. The judge concluded that between 2004 and 2016
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she was at the heart of a system that diverted more than 4 million euros
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from the European Parliament to pay France-based party staffers. The court took into consideration, in addition to the risk of re-offending
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the major disturbance of public order if a person already convicted, was a candidate in the presidential election
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An opinion poll on the presidential election published on Sunday gave Le Pen 34 to 37% of the vote
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more than 10 points ahead of her nearest rival. President Emmanuel Macron cannot run for a third term
