Ten sentenced of online harassment directed at Brigitte Macron
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A court in Paris has convicted ten people for engaging in the online harassment of Brigitte Macron, the wife of French President, Emmanuel Macron.
The accused individuals faced allegations of spreading untruths regarding her gender and sexual orientation, in addition to posting defamatory statements about the pair's 24-year age gap.
The court issued suspended jail terms of a maximum of eight months to the convicted individuals. The detailed judgment has not yet been published.
A persistent unfounded claim alleging that Brigitte Macron is a person assigned male at birth has existed since her husband's first electoral victory in 2017.
This latest legal outcome in France is concurrent with the Macrons pursuing a legal action for defamation in the United States against conservative commentator Candace Owens, who has repeatedly shared similar conspiracy theories about the French president's wife's biological sex.
Their complaint states that Owens brushed aside all credible evidence disproving her claim choosing instead to amplify the voices of notorious conspiracy peddlers.
Owens has often echoed these claims on her show and online platforms, and in March 2024 declared that she would stake her entire professional reputation on her belief that Mrs. Macron was born a man.
Brigitte Macron first met her now-husband when she taught at his secondary school.
The couple tied the knot in 2007, when the man who would become president was 29 and she was 54.
