French far-right leader Le Pen slams verdict as 'political decision'

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00:00She may have left the courtroom before the end of her sentencing, but she has no intention

00:06of leaving politics.

00:07Hours after being barred from running for office for five years with immediate effect,

00:12Marine Le Pen was on national television to plead her case and express her outrage.

00:20The judge very clearly made the decision to make me ineligible with immediate effect,

00:26making my appeal pointless, in order to prevent me, she said, from running in the election

00:31and from being elected.

00:35So it was a political decision that was being made.

00:41I believe the rule of law has been totally violated by this decision.

00:46The far-right leader claims she's innocent and says she'll appeal the judge's decision.

00:51But she'll only be able to run in 2027 if she obtains a more lenient ruling on appeal

00:56the timing of which may prove difficult.

00:58Le Pen was found guilty on Monday on charges of embezzlement and sentenced to a fine of

01:02100,000 euros and a four-year jail sentence, two of which will be suspended.

01:08The judge concluded that between 2004 and 2016, she was at the heart of a system that

01:12diverted more than four million euros from the European Parliament to pay France-based

01:17party staffers.

01:19The court took into consideration, in addition to the risk of re-offending, the major disturbance

01:25of public order if a person already convicted was a candidate in the presidential election.

01:31An opinion poll on the presidential election published on Sunday gave Le Pen 34-37% of

01:36the vote, more than 10 points ahead of her nearest rival.

01:40President Emmanuel Macron cannot run for a third term.

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