French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has denounced the court ruling that placed a five-year ban on her seeking public office for embezzlement.

A French court found her and eight other former European lawmakers guilty of embezzling public funds. The verdict is a hammer blow to Le Pen's presidential hopes and an earthquake for French politics.

PARIS − French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was convicted of embezzlement on Monday and handed an immediate five-year ban from public office, a sentence that will bar her from running in the 2027 presidential race unless she successfully appeals beforehand.

After the far-right leader was found guilty of embezzlement and barred from running for office, her supporters cried foul. Was justice served or politicized?

The sentence made the far-right leader ineligible for five years, excluding her from the 2027 election unless she can secure a more favorable outcome on appeal.

Le Pen called her ban from running a "nuclear bomb" by the system, after a court convicted her of embezzlement and blocked her from office for five years.

Judges convicted the far-right leader of misusing EU funds and barred her from running in the 2027 French presidential elections.