Ten convicted of online harassment targeting Brigitte Macron
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A Paris court has found guilty ten people for perpetrating the online harassment of Brigitte Macron, the partner of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.
The those on trial faced charges of disseminating untruths regarding her sex and sexual orientation, in addition to making malicious remarks about the husband and wife's significant age difference.
The court issued suspended jail terms of up to eight months to the defendants. The detailed judgment has still to be made public.
A circulating unfounded claim alleging that Brigitte Macron is a trans woman has been in circulation since her husband's first electoral victory in 2017.
This Monday's court decision in France comes as the Macrons engaging in a defamation lawsuit in the United States against conservative commentator Candace Owens, who has repeatedly shared analogous false narratives about the Brigitte Macron's gender.
Their lawsuit contends that Owens ignored any factual proof that refuted her assertions choosing instead to give a platform to established defamers.
Owens has often echoed these claims on her show and social media channels, and in March 2024 stated that she would risk all her credibility on her insistence that Mrs. Macron is biologically male.
Brigitte Macron first met her now-husband when she was a teacher at his secondary school.
The two tied the knot in 2007, when the man who would become president was 29 and she was in her mid-50s.