Name: Brigitte Macron harassment trial opens in Paris
Uploaded: 2025-10-27T18:30:35.117Z
Duration: 1 min 40 s
Description: Ten people are on trial in Paris for spreading false rumors about French first lady Brigitte Macron’s gender and personal life. The case, involving influencers and online figures, comes as the Macrons also pursue legal action in the US over similar attacks spread by far-right media.

Ten people are on trial in Paris for spreading false rumors about French first lady Brigitte Macron’s gender and personal life. The case, involving influencers and online figures, comes as the Macrons also pursue legal action in the US over similar attacks spread by far-right media.

Paris

A Paris court has opened proceedings against ten individuals accused of cyber harassment targeting French First Lady Brigitte Macron. The defendants, eight men and two women aged 41 to 60, allegedly spread false claims about Macron's gender identity and made defamatory statements online, including suggestions related to her age gap with President Emmanuel Macron.

Among the accused are publicist Aurélien Poisson-Atlan and a woman known as Amandine Roy, both linked to conspiracy theory circles. The trial follows years of online attacks and is separate from a defamation lawsuit the Macrons have filed in the United States. The First Lady's legal team plans to present evidence to refute the claims.

Brigitte Macron harassment trial opens in Paris

After years of online attacks and malicious rumours, 10 people are on trial for sexy cyber harassment against French First Lady Brigitte Macron. 8 men and 2 women are accused of making false online claims about Brigitte Macron's sexual and gender identity and suggesting that her 24-year age gap with her husband Emmanuel Macron made her a pedophile. If convicted, the defendants, aged from 41 to 60 years old, each face up to two years in prison. Among them is Aurélien Poisson-Atlan, a publicist known online as Zoé Sagan. Before his account was suspended, he was popular within conspiracy theory circles on X. Another defendant is a woman known by her pseudonym Amandine Roy. In 2021, she posted a four-hour interview spreading conspiracy theories that Brigitte Macron was born a man under the name Jean-Michel Trognon, the actual name of her brother. She was ordered to pay damages to Brigitte 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. We intend to demonstrate that we have nothing to do with this and that no offence has been committed. The French case is separate from a defamation lawsuit that the presidential couple filed in a Delaware court against the far-right podcaster Candice Owens, making similar unsubstantiated claims about Brigitte Macron. Owens produced series titled Becoming Brigitte, obsessing over the First Lady's gender. The Macrons say that they plan to present scientific and photographic evidence to prove that the First Lady is biologically a woman.

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