Ten people could face up to two years in prison each after being accused of sexist cyberbullying of French first lady Brigitte Macron over claims about her gender.
Seven of the ‘trolls’ appeared in court today accused of harassing Ms Macron so badly that she suffered “a serious deterioration in her physical and mental health”.
The defendants – a woman and six men – are accused of claiming the 72-year-old was born a man, and that she was “a paedophile” who abused her husband, 47-year-old President Emmanuel Macron, when he was a boy. All face two years in prison if found guilty of cyberbullying Ms Macron.
Ten people have been charged, but three failed to turn up for the start of their trial at the Paris Correctional Court on Monday.
Among those who did show was Amandine Roy, a clairvoyant whose real name is Delphine Jegousse, 53. She appeared on a four-hour YouTube video in December 2021, allegedly claiming Ms Macron, a mother-of-three, was born as a baby boy called Jean-Michel Trogneux in 1953. This is in fact the name of Brigitte’s brother, and Ms Macron was called Brigitte Trogneux before her first marriage.
Roy also claimed that Brigitte’s first husband, André-Louis Auzière, had never actually existed before his reported death in 2020, aged 68. Roy was convicted of defamation against Ms Macron last year, before being cleared on appeal.
Appearing in the dock today for her criminal trial, Roy was told by the presiding judge: “You are accused of the same offence as the other defendants, namely harassing Brigitte Macron online. This led to a serious deterioration in her physical and mental health.”
Ms Macron was not in court, and instead represented by her barrister, Jean Ennochi. Maud Marian, representing Roy, said her client had merely ‘replied to other posts’ online, and had not trolled Ms Macron directly.
All of the defendants deny any wrongdoing and claim their right to free speech is being infringed because they attacked a senior member of the Paris political establishment.
The trial is focusing on “numerous malicious comments about Brigitte Macron’s gender and sexuality” as well as her age difference with her husband which has seen her “likened to a paedophile”, said a spokesman for Paris prosecutors.
He added: “On August 27th, Brigitte Macron filed a complaint for cyberbullying, an offense punishable by two years of imprisonment.”
Among those also accused is Aurelien Poirson-Atlan, a 41-year-old known on social media as ‘Zoe Sagan’. Juan Branco, defence barrister for Poirson-Atlan, said the prosecution was “taking an obvious political direction.” He said it was particularly outrageous that his client was being tried for what amounted to a matter of “free speech opinion”.
The Macron marriage has always been subjected to hurtful speculation because of its controversial beginnings. The future president was a schoolboy in 1992 at La Providence High School in Amiens, northern France, when he first developed deep affection for his drama teacher, the then 40-year-old Brigitte Auzière, who was married with three young children.
Some claim the relationship became a dangerously irresponsible one – allegations both parties have always denied – but Ms Macron later admitted that being romantically linked “with such a young boy was crippling”, especially in a close-knit, Roman Catholic community.
She spoke of the rumours her own boy and two girls – one a classmate of young Emmanuel – had to deal with, saying: “You can imagine what they were hearing. But I didn’t want to miss out on my life.”
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