10 guilty of online bullying of Brigitte Macron

Eight men and two women have been handed suspended prison sentences and other sanctions for using the internet to bully Brigitte Macron, the wife of France's President Emmanuel Macron.

The court in Paris said the defendants, who were aged between 41 and 65, had made "particularly degrading, insulting, and malicious" comments about Brigitte, including claims she was a transgender pedophile.

The court also sentenced one of the 10 defendants to six months in custody, for failing to attend the proceedings.

One defendant, who apologized and said the comments were intended to be satirical, was found guilty but not handed a suspended sentence. The others were given suspended sentences of between four months and eight months, which will be served if they commit additional infractions.

Many defendants also had their social media accounts suspended for six months over the online bullying, which included false claims about Brigitte's gender and sexuality, and "malicious remarks" about the 24-year age gap between Brigitte and her younger husband.

Each of the defendants had posted comments multiple times and some had made posts that were viewed tens of thousands of times, the court heard. One even made a four-hour broadcast that was available on YouTube.

"Repeated publications have had cumulative harmful effects," the court said during sentencing.

All 10 were also ordered to attend cyber bullying awareness training and must jointly pay 10,000 euros ($11,675) in compensation.

The Macrons have also filed a defamation lawsuit in the United States over similar claims made by a right-wing influencer there. That trial will likely take place later this year.

The AFP news agency quoted Jean Ennochi, Brigitte's lawyer, as saying after Monday's ruling that "what is important is that there is immediate cyber bullying awareness training, and for some of the defendants, a ban on using their social media accounts".

During the trial, Tiphaine Auziere, Brigitte's daughter from a previous marriage, told the court the online bullying had impacted her mother's health and that she had to "be careful about her choices of outfits, of posture ... she knows perfectly well that her image will be used to back these theories".

Auziere added that Brigitte's grandchildren had also been teased at school about the claims.

The Macrons, who met when Brigitte was a married mother of three teaching at Emmanuel's secondary school, have been battling against online taunts ever since their profile grew following their 2007 marriage, when Emmanuel was 29 and Brigitte was in her mid-50s.

Brigitte, who was warned that taking the matter before the courts could fan the flames and make more people aware of the false claims, told the French television channel TF1 on Sunday that she decided to launch legal proceedings in spite of that, to "set an example" in the fight against harassment.

earle@mail.chinadailyuk.com