FRENCH far-right leader Marine Le Pen returned to court today to appeal an embezzlement conviction, with her 2027 presidential ambitions hanging on the outcome of the case.

Ms Le Pen is seeking to overturn a March ruling that found her guilty of misusing European Parliament funds.

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 (£87,000) fine.

Ms Le Pen did not speak to the press during her arrival at the courthouse.

As the trial was starting, she stood silently in front of the three-judge panel while reasons for the proceedings were read by the president of the court.

“I hope I’ll be able to convince the judges of my innocence,” Ms Le Pen told reporters Monday. “It’s a new court with new judges.”

Ms Le Pen was seen as the potential front-runner to succeed President Emmanuel Macron in the 2027 election until last year’s ruling, which sent shock waves through French politics. She denounced it as “a democratic scandal.”

Her National Rally party has been coming out on top in opinion polls, and Ms Le Pen alleged that the judicial system brought out “the nuclear bomb” to prevent her from becoming France’s president.

Advocacy group Transparency France noted that her conviction came after years of investigation and a lengthy trial in which Ms Le Pen and other party members were able to freely defend their positions.

In March, Ms Le Pen and other party officials were convicted of using money intended for European parliamentary assistants who instead had other duties between 2004 and 2016, in violation of EU rules. Some did work for the party, known as the National Front at the time, in French domestic politics, the court said.

All defendants denied wrongdoing, and Ms Le Pen argued the money was used in a legitimate way.