The leader of France’s far-right National Rally [RN], Marine Le Pen, spoke after her political disqualification by a court. Le Pen was sentenced to 4 years in prison, with 2 suspended, and 5 years of disqualification from running for office, which would prevent her candidacy in the 2027 presidential election. In an interview on TF1 news, the RN leader denounced the sentence as “a political decision”.

“Tonight there are millions of French people unimaginably outraged seeing that, in France, the country of the rights of man, judges are using practices that I thought were only typical of authoritarian regimes. Millions of French people are being deprived of the favorite for the presidential elections by a judge of first instance. This should shock anyone who defends democracy or the rule of law”, - said Le Pen.

She confirmed that she will file an appeal “as quickly as possible” because she is “innocent”: “They have eliminated me. But in reality they have done it to millions of French people. The rule of law has been totally violated by the decision that has been taken… when one appeals, the appeal should have a suspensive effect on the conviction. The magistrate has assumed to apply the immediate disqualification, which actually means making my appeal useless in this matter to prevent me from running”.