Far-right leader tells supporters she is victim of ‘witch-hunt’, while radical left says RN’s mask has slipped

• What is Marine Le Pen guilty of in National Rally embezzlement case?

The French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has told supporters in Paris she would fight “a political, not a judicial ruling” that could bar her from the next presidential election, as a rival rally denounced an “existential threat” to the rule of law after her conviction for embezzling public funds.

“This decision has trampled on everything I hold most dear: my people, my country and my honour,” the figurehead of National Rally (RN) told a crowd of flag-waving supporters as the country’s three main political movements staged events in the Paris.

Far-right leader, who was found guilty of embezzlement of European funds, says conviction is a ‘denial of democracy’

The French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has railed against a Paris court’s “political decision” to bar her from competing for the presidency in 2027, attacking the move to ban her from running for public office as “a denial of democracy”.

In a day of high political drama, Le Pen was found guilty of embezzlement of European parliament funds on a vast scale, a conviction for which she was also handed a four-year prison sentence, with two of those years suspended and two to be served outside jail with an electronic bracelet. She was also ordered to pay a €100,000 (£84,000) fine.