A Paris court has found 10 people guilty of cyberbullying French President Emmanuel Macron's wife, Brigitte, by spreading false claims about her gender identity and insinuations related to the age difference between the couple.
The defendants, eight men and two women aged 41 to 65, are accused of having posted "numerous malicious comments" falsely claiming Brigitte Macron was assigned male at birth, and linking their 24-year age gap to pedophilia.
The relationship between Emmanuel Macron, 48, and Brigitte, 72, who met while she was a drama teacher at his school, has been the subject of intense interest since he became president in 2017.
Eight defendants were handed suspended sentences of four to eight months in prison, while a ninth man was sentenced to six months in prison over his absence from the hearing.
Presiding judge Thierry Donard described the claims of the French first lady's "alleged paedophilia" as "malicious, degrading and insulting", saying the defendants had received sentences for "intentionally harming the complainant".
The age gap between French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte has been scrutinised online in recent years. Source: AAP / SOPA Images / Sipa USA / Dinendra Haria
Three individuals considered key instigators online also had their social media accounts suspended for six months.
"The most important things are the prevention courses and the suspension of some of the accounts" of the perpetrators, said Jean Ennochi, Brigitte Macron's lawyer, after the verdict was handed down.
In recent years, scrutiny of the couple's relationship has extended to the widespread publication of false information that they have resolved not to ignore and instead combat in court.
The couple filed a defamation lawsuit in the United States against right-wing US podcaster Candace Owens, who falsely claimed Brigitte Macron was a transgender woman.
Tiphaine Auziere, 41, Brigitte Macron's younger daughter from her first marriage, told the trial in rare public comments that the unsubstantiated claims had harmed her mother's health.
"She's constantly having to pay attention to what she wears, how she holds herself because she knows that her image can be distorted," she said.
Prosecutors sought the heaviest sentence against Aurelien Poirson-Atlan, 41, a commentator known on social media as "Zoe Sagan" and often linked to conspiracy theory circles.
He was handed an eight-month suspended sentence and a six-month suspension of his social media accounts.
In court in October, he defended his right to what he called "satire".
Another of the most prominent defendants, gallery owner Bertrand Scholler, 56, said the trial was targeting his "freedom to think" faced with the "media deep state". The court sentenced Scholler to a six-month suspended sentence and an immediate suspension of his social media accounts for six months.
Also on trial was a woman already the subject of a libel complaint filed by Brigitte Macron in 2022: Delphine Jegousse, 51, a self-proclaimed spiritual medium who goes by the pseudonym Amandine Roy.
The court sentenced Jegousse to a six-month suspended jail term and the suspension of her online accounts, also for half a year.
While these three defendants are regarded as the main instigators of the spread of false information, the other seven were presented by prosecutors as "followers" who had "let themselves go" from "their sofa", some having simply shared or liked a few posts.
Claims amplified by conspiracy theorists
Emerging as early as Macron's election in 2017, the claims have been amplified by far-right and conspiracy theorist circles in France and in the US, where transgender rights have become a hot-button issue at the heart of US culture wars.
In the case against Owens, who produced a series titled Becoming Brigitte, the Macrons are planning to offer "scientific" evidence and photos proving that the first lady is not transgender, according to their US lawyer. Several of those on trial in Paris shared posts from the US influencer.
— With additional reporting by the Associated Press via the Australian Associated Press
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