When the verdict from a Paris criminal court flashed across screens in Hénin-Beaumont, many customers in the Café de la Paix received it with the outrage and disappointment Marine Le Pen predicted. The far-right political leader was found guilty of embezzlement, sentenced to four years in prison — two years suspended, two in a form of house arrest — and fined more than $100,000. But most stinging was the decision barring her from running for public office for five years, rendering her ineligible to run in France’s 2027 presidential election. For people here, Ms. Le Pen is not just the leader of the National Rally, and three-time presidential candidate. She is their local lawmaker in the lower house of Parliament.
“I am disgusted,” said Jean-Marc Sergheraert, 70, a retired charity manager, craning up at a big television screen. There, Ms. Le Pen was denouncing the decision as politically motivated and unjust because, she said, her sentence would be enforced even as she appealed it, which is often not the case in France.
“She is right,” added Mr. Sergheraert. “She must defend herself and go right to the end. If they want us to take the Capitol like they did in Washington, I will go to the Élysée,” he said, referring to the presidential palace in Paris.
Nearby, Arlette Banderlique, 86, concurred over her flute of light beer. “Forbidding French to do something just pushes us more to do it,” she said. “She will get millions more votes.” Ms. Le Pen said she would appeal the ruling, though it would be difficult to resolve her challenge in time for 2027. She was convicted of diverting European Parliament funds to her party.
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