A FRENCH court barred Marine Le Pen today from seeking public office for five years, with immediate effect, for embezzlement.

Ms Le Pen was also sentenced to two years’ imprisonment under house arrest.

In addition, the judge handed down guilty verdicts for embezzling public funds to eight other current or former members of her party who, like Ms Le Pen, previously served as European Parliament lawmakers. 

Also convicted were 12 other people who served as parliamentary aides for Le Pen and what is now the National Rally party, formerly the National Front.

Ms Le Pen and her co-defendants denied wrongdoing.

The verdict is a hammer blow to the far-right leader’s presidential hopes and an earthquake for French politics.

Although Ms Le Pen can appeal the verdict, she will likely still be ineligible to stand in the 2027 presidential race.

French Communist Party leader Fabien Roussel said: “Justice is justice. Depending on whether you are powerful or miserable,” as La Fontaine wrote, it must be the same for everyone. 

“Especially since Ms Le Pen is a political leader who demands greater firmness from the justice system! Let us respect justice, then.”

But Jean Luc Melenchon, the leader of the left-wing France Unbowed, said: “The decision to remove an elected official should be up to the people. This is what a recall referendum would be for in a democratic Sixth Republic.”

Ms Le Pen’s lawyer Rodolphe Bosselut said his client would appeal the sentence.

The far-right leader’s supporters also hit back.

Jordan Bardella, who could replace her on the ballot in 2027 if she cannot stand, said on X that Ms Le Pen “is being unjustly condemned” and that French democracy “is being executed.”

Hungary’s populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban quickly took to social media to express his support, posting “Je suis Marine!” — I am Marine.

Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders said: “I am shocked by the incredibly tough verdict against Marine Le Pen. I support and believe in her 100 per cent and I trust she will win the appeal and become President of France.”

In Italy, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini warned: “The ruling against Marine Le Pen is a declaration of war by Brussels.”

In Paris’s Republic Plaza, Jean Dupont, a schoolteacher, said: “We were here in this square to celebrate the death of her father and this is now the death of Le Pen’s presidential ambitions.”

Sophie Martin, a graphic designer, said: “She’s finally been knocked down. We’ve lived with her poison in our politics for too long.”