Ten individuals found guilty of cyber-bullying targeting Brigitte Macron
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A French judicial body has convicted ten people for engaging in the online harassment of Brigitte Macron, the partner of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.
The defendants faced charges of disseminating false claims regarding her sex and sexual orientation, in addition to making defamatory statements about the husband and wife's significant age difference.
The court delivered suspended jail terms of as much as eight months to the convicted individuals. The detailed judgment has still to be made public.
A circulating false narrative alleging that Brigitte Macron is a person assigned male at birth has been in circulation 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 United States of America against conservative commentator Candace Owens, who has also voiced analogous false narratives about the French president's wife's biological sex.
Their complaint alleges that Owens disregarded all credible evidence that refuted her assertions in favour of platforming known conspiracy theorists.
Owens has often echoed these allegations on her digital program and social media channels, and in March 2024 stated that she would bet her whole career on her conviction that Mrs. Macron is biologically male.
Brigitte Macron first met her future husband when she was a teacher at his secondary school.
The pair married in 2007, when the then-29-year-old Emmanuel Macron was 29 and she was approximately 54 years old.
