Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right French National Rally party, has been found guilty in an embezzlement case that could see her banned from running for office.
Ms Le Pen and 24 other officials from National Rally were accused of diverting millions of euros from the European Parliament to pay for party staff.
The money was meant to be used to pay for EU aides but instead was used to pay staff working for the French party.
The defendants denied any wrongdoing.
Prosecutors pressed for Ms Le Pen to be banned from running from office for five years, which would rule her out of running in the 2027 presidential race where she would be guaranteed to be one of the favourites to win.
Ms Le Pen has said that being banned from running for office would be “political death”.
The judge has yet to sentence any of the defendants.
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