Ten people have been found guilty of cyberbullying Brigitte Macron, the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, by a court in Paris.
The defendants were accused of spreading false claims about her gender and sexuality, alongside making “malicious remarks” about the 24-year age gap between her and the French president.
The court handed the defendants suspended prison sentences of up to 8 months.
A long-running conspiracy theory falsely claiming that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has circulated publicly since Emmanuel Macron was first elected president in 2017.
Emmanuel Macron first met his future wife when she was a teacher at his secondary school. The couple later married in 2007, when Macron was 29 and Brigitte Macron was in her mid-50s.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
