By Charlotte Houang, AFP
Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron Photo: Beata Zawrzel / NurPhoto / Getty Images via CNN Newsource
A Paris court on Monday (France time) sentenced 10 people accused of cyber-bullying President Emmanuel Macron's wife Brigitte by spreading false information about her gender and insinuations related to the age difference between France's first couple.
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".
They and a 10th person were ordered to follow a course against hate speech online, to be paid at their own expense.
Three individuals considered to be the 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.
Brigitte Macron herself did not appear at the trial hearings in October but told investigators after filing her complaint that the claim she is a transgender woman has "strongly affected" her and her loved ones.
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 used to be a man.
'Image distorted'
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 that 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 J, 51, a self-proclaimed spiritual medium who goes by the pseudonym Amandine Roy.
The court sentenced Delphine J to a six-month suspended jail term and the suspension of her online accounts, also for half a year.
Brigitte Macron. Photo: AFP / Kenzo Tribouillard
Centre of attention
While these three defendants are regarded as the main instigators of spreading the 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.
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 United States, where transgender rights have become a hot-button issue at the heart of US culture wars.
In the case against Candace 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.
Brigitte Macron was at the centre of a new furore in December when she was filmed describing as "stupid bitches" ("sales connes" in French) activists who disrupted a stand-up show of a French actor who had been accused of rape.
A woman in 2021 accused the actor, Ary Abittan, of rape but in 2023 investigators dropped the case, citing lack of evidence.
Brigitte Macron later apologised for using the slur, saying "I am sorry if I hurt women victims" and called the remarks "private" comments.
- AFP