Ten sentenced of online harassment targeting Brigitte Macron
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A French judicial body has ruled against ten people for perpetrating the digital intimidation of Brigitte Macron, the spouse of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.
The those on trial faced allegations of disseminating fabrications regarding her gender and sexual orientation, in addition to publishing defamatory statements about the pair's 24-year age gap.
The court issued suspended jail terms of a maximum of eight months to the defendants. The full ruling has still to be made public.
A circulating false narrative claiming that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has been in circulation since her husband's first electoral victory in 2017.
This latest legal outcome in France is concurrent with the Macrons initiating a legal action for defamation in the United States against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has also voiced comparable unfounded claims about the first lady's identity.
Their legal filing states that Owens ignored all credible evidence contradicting her allegations opting to give a platform to established defamers.
Owens has frequently reiterated these claims on her digital program and online platforms, and in March 2024 stated that she would bet her whole career on her conviction that Mrs. Macron is biologically male.
Brigitte Macron originally became acquainted with her future husband when she taught at his high school.
The couple entered into matrimony in 2007, when the then-29-year-old Emmanuel Macron was 29 and she was approximately 54 years old.
