Marine Le Pen guilty of embezzlement, barred from office

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was banned from running for public office with immediate effect on Monday after a court found her guilty of misappropriating European Union funds.

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.

Le Pen said ahead of the verdict that a guilty ruling could lead to her "political death."

The court ruled that Le Pen and her National Rally party (RN) misused €3 million ($3.25 million) in European Parliament funds meant for parliamentary assistants.

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

Le Pen, 56, denied any wrongdoing, calling the case a political attack aimed at ending her career.

"There are 11 million people who voted for the movement I represent," said Le Pen ahead of the ruling on Monday. She also claimed that the case against her would mean "potentially millions of French people seeing themselves deprived of their candidate in the election."

She left the court dramatically before anything was said about the duration of the ban.