A Paris appeals court handed France's far-right chief Marine Le Pen one year of house arrest over a fake jobs scam in the European parliament on Tuesday, casting doubt on whether she will run for president next April.
The appeals court handed the three-time presidential candidate a 45-month ban from office, 30 months of which were suspended.
The other 15 months were expected to be backdated from the initial verdict by a lower court in March last year and therefore to have expired, meaning she could in theory be a candidate.
But the court also gave her a three-year detention, two of which were suspended, meaning she must serve one year under house arrest wearing an electronic ankle tag.
The three-time presidential candidate has said she would not compete to replace centrist President Emmanuel Macron if she was under house arrest and could not campaign properly.
