Copyright yahoo
Brigitte Macron’s health “deteriorated” due to online rumours about her gender and sexuality, a Paris trial into cyber-bullying heard on Monday. Ten people are accused of peddling false and “malicious” claims that France’s first lady is a man. The cyber-bullying trial comes just three months after Mrs Macron and her husband Emmanuel, the French president, filed a defamation lawsuit in the United States against Candace Owens, a conservative podcaster, over similar claims. Several of those on trial in Paris shared posts from the US influencer. The first lady, 72, was absent as the trial opened at a Paris criminal court, but her daughter, Tiphaine Auzière, has asked to testify and may appear on Tuesday. In all, eight men and two women – aged 41 to 60 – are accused of spreading “numerous malicious comments” online about Mrs Macron’s gender and “sexuality” and of describing the age gap with her husband, who is 47, as “paedophilia”. Seven were in court Monday, with two others represented by their lawyers and the 10th absent with no representation. The chief judge said they are accused of cyber-bullying the first lady, which led to “a deterioration of her physical and mental health”. If convicted, they face up to two years in prison. The judge read various tweets from Mrs Macron explaining her decision to press charges. “It’s all odious. I preferred to take action, hence this complaint” she said in one, referring to the “strong impact on my entourage and myself”. The first defendant, a Swiss-based computer engineer and father of one called Jerome C, insisted his tweets on the matter were a “joke” in the “spirit” of Charlie Hebdo – the satirical magazine where 12 people were gunned down by Islamists in 2015. The 55-year-old denied cyber-bullying Mrs Macron, arguing that he had only tweeted nine times in four months on the subject. “Like many others, I wonder what I’m doing here,” he told the court. “Today, people can be taken into custody for harmless messages and accused of cyber-bullying. We found ourselves in cells that stank of piss. We were summoned to Paris for several days, it’s frightening,” he said. “If they wanted the rumour to stop,” the Macrons should have “provided proof quickly,” he added. “They should have nipped the rumour in the bud.” Among the defendants is Aurelien Poirson-Atlan, 41, a publicist known on social media as “Zoe Sagan” and often linked with conspiracy theory circles. Also in the dock was Delphine Jegousse, 51, a self-proclaimed spiritual medium who goes by the pseudonym Amandine Roy and who was already the subject of a libel complaint filed by Mrs Macron in 2022. In 2021, she posted a four-hour interview with Natacha Rey, a self-described independent journalist, on her YouTube channel, alleging Mrs Macron, whose maiden name is Trogneux, had once been a man called Jean-Michel Trogneux – the name of her 80-year-old brother. The two women were ordered to pay damages to Mrs Macron and her brother in 2024 before the conviction was overturned on appeal. The First Lady has since taken the case to the country’s highest appeals court. The trial is being closely watched across the Atlantic, where the presidential couple filed a US defamation lawsuit in July against Ms Owens, whose YouTube channel has 4.5 million subscribers. The Right-wing influencer, once close to Donald Trump, produced a series titled “Becoming Brigitte”, claiming she was born a man. The Macrons are planning to offer “scientific” evidence and photos proving that the First Lady is not transgender, according to their US lawyer. Despite this, Ms Owens fired off a tweet on Monday that read: “If it walks like a dude, talks like a dude, and is listed in the French tax registry as a dude, then it’s the First Dude of France.” That was a reference to revelations on Sunday that Brigitte Macron was given a male name on her personal tax record by a team of hackers. A verdict in the Paris case will likely be issued at a later date.
