Sri Lanka, March 31 -- French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was banned from running for public office for five years after being convicted on Monday of embezzlement, a political watershed that ruled her out of the 2027 presidential race unless she can win an appeal.

The French court's ruling was a catastrophic setback for Le Pen, the National Rally (RN) party chief who has long been one of the most prominent figures in the European far right and who has been the front-runner in opinion polls for the 2027 contest.

The judge who convicted Le Pen of misappropriating European Union funds also gave her a four-year prison sentence - two years of which are suspended and two years to be served under home detention. She received a 100,000-euro ...