French far right wing politician Marine Le Pen has been banned from public office for five years, effective immediately.
The decision was made in response to Le Pen, leader of the National Rally party in France, being found guilty of embezzling EU funds, a conviction she plans to fight.
The guilty verdict came through on Monday, for Le Pen and eight of her party's members of the European Parliament.
The ban from public office will put the brake on plans for Le Pen running in the 2027 presidential election, and she was also given a 100,000 euro fine, and a four-year prison sentence, two years suspended and two to be spent on house arrest, wearing an electronic monitoring tag.
The decision has drawn ire from right wing leaders and figureheads across the globe, from the Kremlin, to Hungary’s right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban, to Elon Musk and the Trump administration in the U.S., with many throwing their support behind Le Pen.
In an interview with French television network TF1, Le Pen herself said the ruling was a "political decision", and promised that in "no way" would she retire from political life as of yet.
“I'm not going to let myself be eliminated like this,” she said.
"I'm going to pursue whatever legal avenues I can. There is a small path. It's certainly narrow, but it exists," she said.
