A group of ten found guilty of cyber-bullying against Brigitte Macron
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A court in Paris has found guilty ten people for carrying out the digital intimidation of Brigitte Macron, the partner of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.
The defendants faced charges of disseminating false claims regarding her gender and sexual orientation, in addition to making hurtful comments about the pair's age disparity of 24 years.
The court handed down suspended jail terms of up to eight months to the perpetrators. The detailed judgment has not yet been published.
A longstanding unfounded claim suggesting that Brigitte Macron is a person assigned male at birth has spread widely since her husband's first electoral victory in 2017.
This latest legal outcome in France comes as the Macrons pursuing a legal action for defamation in the US against conservative commentator Candace Owens, who has repeatedly shared comparable unfounded claims about the first lady's identity.
Their complaint alleges that Owens ignored substantial counter-evidence contradicting her allegations in favour of amplify the voices of notorious conspiracy peddlers.
Owens has frequently reiterated these claims on her podcast and social networks, and in March 2024 stated that she would stake her entire professional reputation on her conviction that Mrs. Macron was born a man.
Brigitte Macron first met her future husband when she was a teacher at his lycée.
The couple married in 2007, when the future French president was 29 and she was in her mid-50s.
