Paris court finds 10 people guilty of cyberbullying French first lady Brigitte Macron

A Paris court on Monday found 10 people guilty of cyberbullying French first lady Brigitte Macron by spreading false claims online about her gender and sexuality, including allegations that she was born a man.Eight defendants received suspended sentences, between four and eight months, while one defendant was sentenced to six months in prison, The according to the Associated Press. All 10 defendants were ordered to attend cyberbullying awareness training.
The one defendant who was not given a prison sentence was a teacher, who apologized during the trial and will have to attend the cyberbullying awareness training.
The court noted the “particularly degrading, insulting, and malicious” comments referring to false claims regarding alleged transgender identity and alleged pedophilic criminality by Macron.
“Repeated publications have had cumulative harmful effects,” the court said.
The defendants, eight men and two women from ages 41 to 65, were accused of having posted numerous comments falsely claiming that Macron was born a man and likening the 24-year age gap between her and the French president to pedophilia.
While Macron didn’t attend the two-day trial in October, she told TF1 national television on Sunday that she started the legal proceedings to “set an example” in the fight against harassment.
Macron’s lawyer, Jean Ennochi, said Monday, “What is important is that there are immediate cyberbullying awareness trainings, and for some of the defendants, a ban on using their social media accounts.”
Tiphaine Auzière, Macron’s daughter, testified about what she called the “deterioration” of her mother’s life since the online harassment intensified.
“She cannot ignore the horrible things said about her,” Auzière told the court, adding that the impact has extended to the entire family, including Macron’s grandchildren.
One of the defendants, a property asset manager, received a six-month prison sentence, which, under French law, may be served at home, possibly while wearing an ankle monitor or other requirements set by a judge.
Another defendant, Delphine Jegousse, 51, who is known as Amandine Roy and describes herself as a medium and an author, is considered to have played a major role in spreading the rumor after releasing a four-hour YouTube video in 2021. She received a 6-month prison sentence.
The X account of Aurélien Poirson-Atlan, 41, known as Zoé Sagan on social media, was suspended in 2024 after his name was cited in several judicial investigations, and he was given an 8-month prison sentence, along with another defendant, a gallery owner.
Several defendants’ online access to social media platforms where they made their posts will be suspended for six months.
The court said that the sentences were proportional to the seriousness of the comments.
Several defendants told the court during the trial that their comments were intended as humor or satire, and they did not understand why they were being prosecuted.
The case comes amid years of conspiracy theories falsely alleging that Macron was born under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux, which is the name of her brother. Macron and her husband have also filed a defamation suit in the U.S. against conservative podcaster Candace Owens over the issue.
The Macrons have been married since 2007, and first met at the high school where he was a student and she was a teacher. At the time, Macron, who is 24 years her husband’s senior, was Brigitte Auzière, a married mother of three.
Emmanuel Macron, 48, has been the French president since 2017.

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