Legal Cases
Charges, verdicts, sentences, and appeal status — reported as dry fact, with the procedural status stated exactly as of September 2026.
The case: European Parliament funds (2004–2016)
The prosecution alleged that between 2004 and 2016, the National Front used European Parliament funds intended to pay parliamentary assistants to MEPs — including Marine Le Pen, an MEP from 2004 to 2017 — for people who in fact worked for the national party. Twenty-five defendants (including Le Pen) and the party as a legal entity stood trial at the Paris criminal court in late 2024. Le Pen denied criminal wrongdoing throughout; during the appeal proceedings she stated she had “absolutely no sense of having committed the slightest offense” (as reported in press summaries of the hearings).
The 31 March 2025 verdict
The Paris criminal court convicted her of embezzlement of public funds (détournement de fonds publics). The sentence:
- Four years’ imprisonment, two suspended; the remaining two years to be served under home detention with an electronic bracelet (not in prison).
- €100,000 fine.
- Five years’ ineligibility (inéligibilité) — imposed with immediate effect (exécution provisoire), meaning it applied even while she appealed.
The court also convicted the other defendants and the party (fined €2 million, half suspended, in the party’s case as reported). The immediate ineligibility was the decisive element: under French electoral law, a five-year ban running from March 2025 would have barred her from the 2027 presidential election.
Her public characterization of the verdict — “this is not a judicial decision, it is a political decision” (6 April 2025 rally) — is reported here as her own characterization. The court presented the ruling as a criminal judgment. This site does not adjudicate between the two framings.
The appeal: 7 July 2026
The Paris Court of Appeal upheld the conviction but reduced the penalties:
- Three years’ imprisonment, two suspended; one year to be served under home detention with an electronic bracelet.
- €100,000 fine (unchanged).
- 45 months’ ineligibility, 30 suspended — i.e., 15 effective months. The court ruled these 15 months had already been served between 31 March 2025 and the appeal ruling, so she was immediately eligible to stand.
That evening she announced her candidacy for the 2027 presidential election.
Procedural status as of September 2026
- She stated on 8 July 2026 that she would appeal to the Cour de Cassation (France’s supreme court for criminal matters, which reviews legal correctness, not facts). At the time of that reporting she had not yet filed.
- The Cour de Cassation indicated it could rule by early April 2027.
- No cassation filing — and no ruling — had been confirmed in the reporting available to this site as of September 2026. This page will be updated when the procedural status changes.
Earlier proceedings
She was acquitted in the proceedings arising from her 10 December 2010 Lyon speech (the “street prayers” remarks), which had drawn an incitement complaint.
A note on method
This page states only what courts have decided and what the parties have said, with each attributed. It does not characterize the verdicts as just or unjust, and it does not present any party’s predictions about the Cour de Cassation as fact. See Methodology for the legal-case reporting policy.
Source notes
- 31 March 2025 verdict: contemporaneous French and international press; Le Monde’s 15-year legal-troubles explainer (7 July 2026).
- 7 July 2026 appeal ruling: Le Monde explainer, 8 July 2026 (“Understanding the judges’ ruling in Le Pen’s appeal trial”).
- Cassation status: Reuters, 8 July 2026.
- Lyon-speech acquittal: French press archives.