A French court has found far-right leader Marine Le Pen guilty of embezzling European Union funds.

The Paris court ruled that Le Pen used more than 3 million euros ($3.3m) of European Parliament funds to pay members of her National Rally party. The ruling threatens to push the nationalist out of the 2027 presidential race, in which she is currently the frontrunner, according to opinion polls.

The sentencing, set to be announced immediately, could see Le Pen declared ineligible to run for office. She has accused prosecutors of seeking her “political death”. A jail sentence and heavy financial penalty are also possible.

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