**ATHENS**
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday criticized the court ruling that disqualified far-right French politician Marine Le Pen from running to be president in 2027.
“I think that no one who cares about democracy can rejoice in a sentence that affects the leader of a large party and takes away representation from millions of citizens,” she told Italian daily Il Messaggero, adding that she does not know “the reasons for such a strong decision.”
Le Pen, 56, a frontrunner for the 2027 presidential contest, was barred from holding public office for five years after being convicted of embezzling European Union funds.
The judge also sentenced her to four years in prison and imposed a €100,000 ($108,200) fine.
The ruling sparked criticism at home and abroad, with the verdict being attacked by figures including Italy’s far-right Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, tech billionaire Elon Musk, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Le Pen called the ruling a “political decision.”
“Millions of French people are indignant, indignant to an unimaginable extent, seeing that in France, the country of human rights, judges have implemented practices that were thought to be for authoritarian regimes,” Le Pen said in an interview with broadcaster TF1 Monday.
She vowed to appeal the sentence and remain in politics.
Le Pen and 24 members of her National Rally party were found guilty of diverting more than €4 million in European funds intended for European Parliament assistants to pay party staff.
“Le Pen isn’t the victim of a political or judicial conspiracy. She’s perhaps first the victim of herself and a system of embezzlement,” said Mathieu Lefevre, a lawmaker from President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party, speaking to BFMTV.
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