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A court in Paris has convicted ten people for engaging in the cyber-bullying of Brigitte Macron, the wife of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.
The accused individuals faced allegations of spreading false claims regarding her gender identity and sexuality, in addition to making hurtful comments about the pair's 24-year age gap.
The court handed down suspended prison sentences of a maximum of eight months to the convicted individuals. The full ruling has not yet been published.
A persistent unfounded claim alleging that Brigitte Macron is a trans woman has spread widely since her husband's initial election in 2017.
This recent ruling in France coincides with the Macrons engaging in a legal action for defamation in the United States against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has likewise promoted comparable unfounded claims about the first lady's identity.
Their complaint contends that Owens brushed aside all credible evidence that refuted her assertions choosing instead to give a platform to established defamers.
Owens has regularly repeated these allegations on her show and social networks, and in March 2024 proclaimed that she would stake her entire professional reputation on her conviction that Mrs. Macron is in fact a man.
Brigitte Macron initially encountered her future husband when she taught at his secondary 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.