France’s Marine Le Pen has been found guilty of misusing European funds to finance her far-right National Rally (RN) party, which may prevent her from running in the 2027 presidential election. The judge has not yet announced the sentence. Prosecutors want Le Pen to face a fine, prison term, and ineligibility from running for public office for five years, starting immediately. The court could, however, impose a shorter term of ineligibility or choose not to implement automatic ineligibility. Le Pen and over 20 senior party members were accused of hiring assistants for the RN party instead of the European Parliament, which paid their salaries. Le Pen denied any wrongdoing during the trial. The verdict’s reading started at 10:00 and could take up to two hours.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyq40yz70qo