{"id":261,"date":"2025-10-27T19:19:51","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T19:19:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=261"},"modified":"2025-10-27T19:19:51","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T19:19:51","slug":"france-trial-opens-for-10-accused-of-online-harassment-of-brigitte-macron-internet-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=261","title":{"rendered":"France trial opens for 10 accused of online harassment of Brigitte Macron | Internet News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"article__subhead\"><em>Judge says defendants caused \u2018deterioration\u2019 in Brigitte Macron\u2019s \u2018physical and mental health\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-dates\">\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Published On 27 Oct 2025<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">27 Oct 2025<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-share\" data-testid=\"rich-share\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__button-wrapper\"><button class=\"rich-share__button row\" aria-expanded=\"false\"><\/p>\n<p>Click here to share on social media<\/p>\n<p><svg class=\"icon icon--share2 icon--primary icon--16 \" viewbox=\"0 0 20 16\" version=\"1.1\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><title>share2<\/title><path fill=\"#000\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M11.688 9.048c-.659 0-1.252.282-1.673.733l-4.92-2.45c.016-.115.028-.232.028-.352 0-.117-.011-.23-.027-.343l4.913-2.423a2.285 2.285 0 0 0 1.68.739C12.964 4.952 14 3.899 14 2.6 14 1.302 12.965.25 11.688.25S9.377 1.302 9.377 2.601c0 .117.01.23.027.343L4.49 5.367a2.285 2.285 0 0 0-1.68-.739C1.536 4.628.5 5.681.5 6.979c0 1.299 1.035 2.35 2.312 2.35.659 0 1.252-.281 1.673-.731l4.92 2.45a2.357 2.357 0 0 0-.029.351c0 1.299 1.035 2.351 2.312 2.351S14 12.698 14 11.399s-1.035-2.35-2.312-2.35Z\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"rich-share__social-text\">Share<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Ten people have gone on trial in a Paris court charged with online harassment of French First Lady Brigitte Macron, the latest case linked to unsubstantiated claims about her gender.<\/p>\n<p>The defendants \u2013 eight men and two women, aged 41 to 60 \u2013 stand accused of cyber-harassment after targeting the first lady with claims that she is a transgender woman who was born a man and referring to her 24-year age gap with French President Emmanuel Macron as \u201cpaedophilia\u201d.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 3 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>The trial comes after the Macrons, who were not present as the two-day proceedings opened on Monday, filed a defamation lawsuit in the United States at the end of July.<\/p>\n<p>The chief judge said the defendants \u2013 whose posts quickly gained traction online, racking up tens of thousands of views \u2013 had caused a \u201cdeterioration\u201d in the first lady\u2019s \u201cphysical and mental health\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Seven of the defendants were in court on Monday, while three others were being represented by their lawyers.<\/p>\n<p>Delphine Jegousse, 51, known as Amandine Roy, who describes herself as a medium and an author, is considered to have played a major role in spreading the rumour about the first lady\u2019s gender after she released a four-hour video on her YouTube channel in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Also among the defendants is Aurelien Poirson-Atlan, 41, known as Zoe Sagan on social media, who is often linked with conspiracy theory circles and who saw his X account suspended last year.<\/p>\n<p>Others include an elected official, a teacher and a computer scientist.<\/p>\n<p>The Macrons have for years been dogged by conspiracy theories that Brigitte, 72, was born a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux, who supposedly then took the name Brigitte as a transgender woman.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4064177\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4064177\" style=\"width:770px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-arc-image-770 wp-image-4064177\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AFP__20251027__826D7D3__v1__HighRes__FrancePoliticsJusticeTrialHarassment-1761580086.jpg?w=770&amp;resize=770%2C513&amp;quality=80\" alt=\"Delphine J, aka Amandine Roy\" fetchpriority=\"low\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4064177\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Delphine Jegousse, also known as Amandine Roy, speaks to the press before her trial with nine other persons accused of sexist cyber-harassment of Brigitte Macron, in Paris, October 27, 2025 [Guillaume Baptiste\/AFP]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Jean-Michel Trogneux is the name of Brigitte\u2019s brother. The pair won a defamation suit against Jegousse and another woman who were sentenced by a Paris court to fines and damages for spreading the claims.<\/p>\n<p>A Paris appeals court overturned the ruling in July. Brigitte and her brother have since turned to France\u2019s highest court to appeal that decision.<\/p>\n<p>The claims have been amplified by far-right and conspiracy theorist circles in France, but also in the United States, where transgender rights have become a prime target in US culture wars.<\/p>\n<p>The Macrons\u2019 lawyer in the US case said the couple would be seeking \u201csubstantial\u201d damages from conservative influencer Candace Owens, whose YouTube channel has about 4.5 million subscribers, if she persists with claims that Brigitte is a man.<\/p>\n<p>A verdict in the Paris case will likely be issued at a later date.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Judge says defendants caused \u2018deterioration\u2019 in Brigitte Macron\u2019s \u2018physical and mental health\u2019. Published On 27 Oct 202527 Oct 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Ten people have gone on trial in a Paris court charged with online harassment of French First Lady Brigitte Macron, the latest case linked to unsubstantiated claims [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}