France convicts 10 people for cyberbullying Macron's wife
Brigitte Macron (Photo: ERA / Ludovic Marin)

A Paris court has found 10 people guilty of cyberbullying French First Lady Brigitte Macron by spreading false claims about her gender and sexuality. The court characterized the comments as "particularly humiliating, offensive and malicious." reports Associated Press.

The defendants were sentenced to various penalties, ranging from mandatory training in countering cyberbullying to eight months of suspended imprisonment.

According to the prosecution, eight men and two women aged 41 to 65 published numerous posts falsely claiming that Brigitte Macron was born a man. The defendants linked the 24-year age difference between her and the president Emmanuel Macron with pedophilia. Some of these publications received tens of thousands of views.

The first lady's daughter, Tifain Ozier, testified in court, saying that the persecution had led to a "deterioration" in her mother's life. According to her, the consequences of the campaign have affected the entire family, including Brigitte Macron's grandchildren.

One of the defendants in the case is 51-year-old Delphine Jegus, known as Amandine Roy, who calls herself a psychic and author. Investigators believe that she played a key role in spreading the rumors after publishing a four-hour video on YouTube in 2021. She was sentenced to six months' suspended sentence.

Another defendant is 41-year-old Aurélien Poirson-Atlan, known on social media as Zoe Sagan. His account was suspended in 2024 after being mentioned in several judicial investigations. The court sentenced him to eight months of suspended imprisonment.

Other defendants include a government official, a teacher and a computer specialist. Some of them stated in court that they considered their comments to be humor or satire and did not realize why they were being prosecuted.

  • About Macron's intention file a lawsuit became known in December 2021. At the time, it was reported that the first lady would go to court over the spread of fake news about her transgenderism. The conspiracy theory emerged against the backdrop of the upcoming French presidential election, which is scheduled to take place in the spring of 2022.