Marine Le Pen has denounced Monday as a “disastrous day for democracy” after a Paris court found her guilty of embezzling European funds to finance her right-wing National Rally (FN) party.

“We are all innocent”, she said in an interview with TF1’s evening news programme.

Le Pen has also been barred from running for public office for five years, meaning she won’t be able to stand in the 2027 presidential election.

“Millions of French people are outraged tonight. Judges here in France have put into practice measures that we thought were reserved for authoritarian countries,” she said, adding that she intended to appeal “as quickly as possible”. 

Our journalists are working on this story and will update it as soon as more information becomes available.