Ten individuals sentenced of online harassment directed at Brigitte Macron
Photo credit
A French judicial body has convicted ten people for engaging in the online harassment of Brigitte Macron, the wife of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.
The accused individuals faced allegations of circulating false claims regarding her gender and sexuality, in addition to posting hurtful comments about the couple's age disparity of 24 years.
The court issued suspended jail terms of a maximum of eight months to the defendants. The complete verdict has still to be made public.
A longstanding false narrative claiming that Brigitte Macron is a trans woman has spread widely since her husband's rise to the presidency in 2017.
This Monday's court decision in France is concurrent with the Macrons pursuing a legal action for defamation in the United States of America against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has repeatedly shared similar conspiracy theories about the French president's wife's biological sex.
Their complaint contends that Owens ignored any factual proof that refuted her assertions choosing instead to amplify the voices of notorious conspiracy peddlers.
Owens has often echoed these allegations on her show and social networks, and in March 2024 proclaimed that she would bet her whole career on her belief that Mrs. Macron was born a man.
Brigitte Macron first met her current spouse when she worked as an educator at his secondary school.
The pair married in 2007, when the man who would become president was 29 and she was 54.
