Ten individuals sentenced of online harassment against 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 the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.
The defendants faced charges of spreading untruths regarding her gender identity and sexual orientation, in addition to posting defamatory statements about the pair's age disparity of 24 years.
The court issued suspended jail terms of a maximum of eight months to the convicted individuals. The complete verdict has not yet been published.
A circulating conspiracy theory alleging that Brigitte Macron is a trans woman has spread widely since her husband's first electoral victory in 2017.
This Monday's court decision in France coincides with the Macrons initiating a defamation lawsuit in the US against conservative commentator Candace Owens, who has repeatedly shared comparable unfounded claims about the French president's wife's identity.
Their complaint states that Owens ignored all credible evidence contradicting her allegations opting to platforming known conspiracy theorists.
Owens has frequently reiterated these assertions on her podcast and online platforms, and in March 2024 declared that she would risk all her credibility on her conviction that Mrs. Macron was born a man.
Brigitte Macron first met her current spouse when she was a teacher at his lycée.
The pair tied the knot in 2007, when the future French president was 29 and she was in her mid-50s.