A group of ten convicted of cyber-bullying directed at Brigitte Macron
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A Paris court has ruled against ten people for engaging in the digital intimidation of Brigitte Macron, the wife of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.
The those on trial faced charges of circulating false claims regarding her gender and sexual orientation, in addition to publishing hurtful comments about the husband and wife's age disparity of 24 years.
The court handed down suspended jail terms of up to eight months to the defendants. The complete verdict has still to be made public.
A persistent false narrative alleging that Brigitte Macron is a trans woman has spread widely since her husband's rise to the presidency in 2017.
This Monday's court decision in France coincides with the Macrons pursuing a legal action for defamation in the United States of America against conservative commentator Candace Owens, who has also voiced comparable unfounded claims about the French president's wife's biological sex.
Their lawsuit contends that Owens brushed aside substantial counter-evidence contradicting her allegations choosing instead to amplify the voices of notorious conspiracy peddlers.
Owens has often echoed these assertions on her podcast and social media channels, and in March 2024 declared that she would risk all her credibility on her belief that Mrs. Macron is biologically male.
Brigitte Macron first met her future husband when she taught at his high school.
The couple tied the knot in 2007, when the then-29-year-old Emmanuel Macron was 29 and she was approximately 54 years old.
