The Paris Criminal Court has sentenced eight men and two women to suspended prison terms of three to twelve months and fines of up to 8,000 euros for sexist online harassment of the French president's wife, Brigitte Macron .
The trial follows a defamation lawsuit filed by the French presidential couple in the United States in late July, regarding " fake news " that went viral in the US and then in France and the rest of the world, regarding the gender and sexuality of Emmanuel Macron's wife.
The French presidential couple's lawsuit in the US, which will be heard later, was against a far-right podcaster, creator of a video series titled "Becoming Brigitte."
Present in court was Brigitte Macron's 41-year-old daughter, lawyer Tiffin Ozier, who during her testimony denounced the hatred directed against her mother with the " systematic questioning " of her " identity, gender " and " integrity" , adding that she had initially " underestimated the scale of the phenomenon ", but gradually realized that the whole case was creating anxiety for both her mother and the grandchildren of the First Lady of France, who often asked her "about the gender of their grandmother".
The convicts, including an advertiser, an elected official, a gallery owner, a teacher, a fortune teller, a computer scientist, etc., are aged between 41 and 60.
The harshest penalties were given to the advertiser, known on social media under the pseudonym " Zoé Sagan ", who, among other things, described the age difference between Brigitte Macron and her husband in posts as "pedophilia". In his defense, he spoke of " satirical " publications, considering that they are covered by freedom of expression.