Four face trial for online targeting of France’s First Lady Brigitte Macron
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French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte have faced malicious gossip about their relationship for years.
PHOTO: AFP
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PARIS – Four men will appear in court in 2025 in Paris over allegations they harassed French First Lady Brigitte Macron online, the public prosecutor said on Dec 12.
Disinformation on Mrs Macron’s gender has circulated on social media for years. She has also been attacked over the 24-year age difference with President Emmanuel Macron.
Mrs Macron filed a complaint in August, and the authorities opened an investigation into cyber harassment and incitement to commit an offence, the public prosecutor said.
A hearing in July 2025 will concern “malicious comments about Brigitte Macron’s gender and sexuality, as well as her age difference with her husband... likening her to a paedophile”, prosecutors said.
A trial is scheduled for the end of October.
The relationship between the President, 46, and his wife, 71, who met while she was a teacher and he was a teenager, is a source of media attention in France and abroad.
Among the accused is Aurelien Poirson-Atlan, born in 1984, a publicist known on social media as “Zoe Sagan” who is often linked with conspiracy theory circles.
Poirson-Atlan’s lawyer, Mr Juan Branco, denounced the charges and accused the public prosecutor of taking an “obvious political direction”.
Among the posts spread on social media is disinformation claiming that the First Lady – whose maiden name is Brigitte Trogneux – had never existed and that her brother Jean-Michel had changed gender and assumed that identity.
In September, a French court ordered two women to pay €8,000 (S$11,300) in damages
The disinformation spread to the United States, where Mrs Macron was attacked in a now-deleted YouTube video.
The “secretly trans” narrative is a longstanding feature of online, sexist violence, according to a 2021 Wilson Centre report.
In a separate cyber-stalking case, three people will go on trial in September 2025 over threats against French DJ Barbara Butch, one of the performers at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony in July.
Ms Butch’s lawyer said she had received death threats after the performance. But the DJ vowed: “I won’t shut up. I’m not afraid of those who hide behind a screen, or a pseudonym, to spew their hatred and frustrations... I’m committed, and I’m proud.”
The accused in both cases face up to two years in prison if found guilty. AFP
