Ten convicted of online harassment against Brigitte Macron
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A court in Paris has convicted ten people for perpetrating the digital intimidation of Brigitte Macron, the spouse of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.
The accused individuals faced charges of spreading false claims regarding her gender identity and sexual orientation, in addition to making malicious remarks about the pair's 24-year age gap.
The court delivered suspended prison sentences of a maximum of eight months to the defendants. The complete verdict has not yet been published.
A persistent conspiracy theory alleging that Brigitte Macron is a person assigned male at birth has existed since her husband's first electoral victory in 2017.
This recent ruling in France comes as the Macrons pursuing a legal action for defamation in the United States of America against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has also voiced similar conspiracy theories about the first lady's identity.
Their legal filing states that Owens disregarded substantial counter-evidence that refuted her assertions choosing instead to give a platform to established defamers.
Owens has frequently reiterated these claims on her show and social networks, and in March 2024 stated that she would risk all her credibility on her conviction that Mrs. Macron was born a man.
Brigitte Macron initially encountered her current spouse when she taught at his secondary school.
The pair entered into matrimony in 2007, when the then-29-year-old Emmanuel Macron was 29 and she was 54.
