PARIS (dpa): A Paris court on Monday convicted 10 people of cyberbullying France's First Lady Brigitte Macron.
The defendants, eight men and two women aged between 41 and 60, were mainly sentenced to six-month suspended prison terms.
All of them must also complete an online course on respect for others, and some have been temporarily banned from using the social media platforms they had used to insult the wife of President Emmanuel Macron.
The defendants were accused of making numerous malicious comments about Brigitte Macron's gender and her age difference with her husband. Some of the remarks included allegations of paedophilia.
The case stems from a baseless conspiracy theory circulating on social media since Emmanuel Macron's election to the presidency in 2017, claiming that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman and was born male.
The Macrons have previously taken legal action against such claims.
Among the defendants are a conspiracy theorist well-known in France and a woman who presents herself as a medium and advertising specialist and whose social media platform’s X account has since been suspended. She is considered to have played a key role in spreading the rumour. - dpa
