A group of ten convicted of online harassment directed at Brigitte Macron

A French judicial body has convicted ten people for carrying out the cyber-bullying of Brigitte Macron, the wife of France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.

The those on trial faced charges of disseminating untruths regarding her gender identity and sexuality, in addition to publishing defamatory statements about the pair's significant age difference.

The court delivered conditional custodial sentences of a maximum of eight months to the perpetrators. The complete verdict has still to be made public.

A circulating false narrative suggesting that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has existed since her husband's initial election in 2017.

This latest legal outcome in France is concurrent with the Macrons pursuing a legal action for defamation in the United States of America against political commentator Candace Owens, who has repeatedly shared analogous false narratives about the French president's wife's gender.

Their complaint contends that Owens disregarded substantial counter-evidence that refuted her assertions choosing instead to amplify the voices of notorious conspiracy peddlers.

Owens has regularly repeated these claims on her show and online platforms, and in March 2024 declared that she would stake her entire professional reputation on her insistence that Mrs. Macron is biologically male.

Brigitte Macron initially encountered her current spouse when she was a teacher at his lycée.

The pair entered into matrimony in 2007, when the man who would become president was 29 and she was 54.