Eight men and two women were accused of making malicious comments about Mrs Macron’s gender and sexuality.
Claudia Lee - The Sun
Ten people have been found guilty of cyber harassment against the French first lady Brigitte Macron.
The eight men and two women, aged 41 to 60, were accused of making malicious comments about Mrs Macron’s gender and sexuality, including the bizarre claim she is a man.
The defendants were accused of posting numerous degrading and insulting comments online and peddling false claims.
The court pointed to particular posts which claimed President Emmanuel Macron’s wife was born a man and linking their 24-year age gap to pedophilia.
Some of the posts were viewed tens of thousands of times.
A Paris criminal court has now convicted all defendants.
Their sentences range from cyber-bullying awareness training to eight-month suspended prison sentences.
It comes after Mrs Macron, 72, and her husband President Macron filed a defamation lawsuit to prove she is a biological woman.
Mrs Macron did not attend the two-day trial in October.
Speaking on local broadcaster TF1 on Sunday, she said she launched legal proceedings to set an example in the fight against harassment.
Her daughter, Tiphaine Auzire, testified about what she described as the deterioration of her mother’s life since the online harassment intensified.
She cannot ignore the horrible things said about her, Auzire told the court.
She said the impact has extended to the entire family, including Macron’s grandchildren.
Several defendants told the court their comments were intended as humour or satire.
And said they did not understand why they were being prosecuted.
Defendant Delphine Jegousse, 51, known as Amandine Roy, is understood to have played a major role in spreading the rumours after she released a four-hour video on YouTube in 2021.
The self-described medium and author, was given a six-month prison sentence.
Aurlien Poirson-Atlan, 41, known as Zo Sagan on social media, was handed an eight-month prison sentence for his involvement.
His X account was suspended in 2024 after his name was cited in several judicial investigations.
Other defendants include an elected official, a teacher and a computer scientist.
The case follows years of conspiracy theories falsely alleging that Mrs Macron was born under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux, which is actually the name of her brother.
The Macrons have also filed a defamation suit in the United States against conservative influencer Candace Owens.
Last March, Owens said she “would stake [her] entire professional reputation” on the claim that Brigitte was born male.
Hurt by the outlandish comments to her hundreds of thousands of viewers, both Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron took legal action.
But Owens hit back by saying she would demand a medical exam as part of any trial.
She announced: “We’re going to demand Brigitte sit down for an exam with an independent doctor.
“We’re coming for her medical records.”
The rumours about Brigitte’s birth gender first took off in France after far-right magazine Faits et Documents printed them in 2021.
Mrs Macron and her husband then filed for defamation in July and vowed to do whatever necessary to prove Brigitte is and always has been a woman.
This article first appeared in The Sun and is republished here with permission.
