New Delhi, Jan. 14 -- France's far-right leader Marine Le Pen denied any wrongdoing as she appeared in court Tuesday to appeal an embezzlement conviction, with her 2027 presidential ambitions hanging on the outcome.

Le Pen, 57, is seeking to overturn a March ruling that found her guilty of misusing European Parliament funds in the hiring of aides from 2004 to 2016. She was given a five-year ban from holding elected office, two years of house arrest with an electronic bracelet, a further two-year suspended sentence and a 100,000-euro ($116,800) fine.

"I'd like to tell the court that . we did not feel we had committed any offence," Le Pen told the three-judge panel. She said European Parliament officials did not at the time tell her party...