Trial begins for 10 accused of sexist cyber-bullying of president’s wife

Ten people accused of sexist cyber-bullying of the French president’s wife, Brigitte Macron, are due to go on trial this week in Paris.

The defendants are accused of spreading unsubstantiated claims over her gender and sexuality, as well as making “malicious remarks” about the 24-year age gap between Brigitte and her husband, Emmanuel Macron.

If found guilty, the defendants face up to two years’ imprisonment.

Among the ten people due to appear in the dock on Monday and Tuesday are an elected official, a gallery owner and a teacher, according to French media.

Two of them – self-styled independent journalist Natacha Rey and internet fortune-teller Amandine Roy – were found guilty of slander last year for claiming that France’s first lady had never existed, and that her brother Jean-Michel Trogneux had changed gender and started using her name.

But a court of appeals later acquitted Rey and Roy on the grounds that their statements did not constitute defamation. Mrs Macron and her brother are appealing the decision.

A conspiracy theory centred around the notion that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has been swirling since her husband won a first term in office in 2017.

The unsubstantiated claims over Mrs Macron’s gender have been gaining ground in the US, mostly promoted by right-wing influencer Candace Owens.

Last July the Macrons filed a lawsuit against Owens, alleging that she “disregarded all credible evidence disproving her claim in favour of platforming known conspiracy theorists and proven defamers”.

Speaking to the BBC’s Fame Under Fire podcast, the Macrons’ lawyer in the case, Tom Clare, said that Brigitte Macron had found the claims “incredibly upsetting” and they were a “distraction” to the French president.

“It is incredibly upsetting to think that you have to go and subject yourself, to put this type of proof forward,” he said.

Emmanuel Macron has said pursuing legal action against Owens was about “defending his honour” and that the influencer had peddled false information “with the aim of causing harm, in the service of an ideology and with established connections to far-right leaders.”

Mrs Macron first met her now-husband when she was a teacher at his secondary school.

The couple ended up marrying in 2007, when Mr Macron was 29 and Mrs Macron was 54.