Le Pen back in court

FRENCH far-right leader Marine Le Pen's political future hangs in the balance at an appeals trial in Paris which may damage her party's ambitions of radically changing France's direction through anti-immigration and nationalist policies.

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Ms Le Pen started answering judges' questions yesterday as she seeks to overturn a 2025 ruling that found her guilty of misusing European Parliament funds in the hiring of aides from 2004 to 2016.

In March last year, she was given a five-year ban from holding elected office, two years of house arrest with an electronic bracelet, and a further two-year suspended sentence.