France, July 7 -- Le Pen appealed a March 2025 conviction that found her and other members of the far right National Rally party guilty of misusing European Parliament funds by paying party staff with money intended for EU parliamentary assistants between 2004 and 2016.

The lower court sentenced her to four years in prison, suspended pending appeal, and imposed a five-year ban on her holding elected office.

Le Pen, who has denied any wrongdoing, still hopes to mount a fourth presidential bid, but whether or not she can do so depends on the appeal court's ruling.

Her lawyer, Rodolphe Bosselut, told the three-judge panel his client "is entrusting you with her life's work, and the question is thus whether it will end here or whether it ca...