Marine Le Pen appeal trial ends with presidential race at stake

Judges' verdict on embezzlement challenge will determine whether far-right leader can stand in 2027 election

Defence lawyers for Marine Le Pen have told a Paris appeals court she did not orchestrate a system to misuse European parliament funds, at the close of an embezzlement trial that will determine whether the far-right leader can run in the 2027 French presidential election.

Le Pen's lawyer, Sandra Chirac Kollarik, told the court on Wednesday: At no moment did Marine Le Pen imagine that she broke the rules." She added: Never in her life would she have deliberately accepted making a false contract."