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Seven alleged trolls appeared in court today accused of harassing French first lady Brigitte Macron so badly that she suffered ‘a serious deterioration in her physical and mental health’.
They 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.
The defendants – a woman and six men – all face two years in prison if found guilty of cyberbullying Ms Macron.
Ten people are on the charge sheet, 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 claiming that Brigitte Macron, a mother-of-three, was infact 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, but then sensationally cleared on appeal.
When Roy appeared in the dock today for her criminal trial, she 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, for 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 have 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 offence 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’, where he spreads multiple conspiracy theories.
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.
It was in 1992 , when the future president was a schoolboy at La Providence high school in Amiens, northern France, that 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.’
The couple finally wed in 2007, a decade before Mr Macron came from nowhere to win the French presidency as an independent candidate.
Ms Macron’s latest court trial comes after she was given a male name on her official French tax portal by hackers.
A routine audit of Brigitte’s financial reports in September 2024 discovered the insult, according to senior Paris civil servant, Tristan Bomme.
Mr Bomme said: ‘Like many French people, Madame Macron logged into her personal account on the tax website.
‘She logs into the system and saw that it did not say Brigitte Macron, but Jean-Michel Macron.’
He added that Ms Macron had made an official complaint about the hacking.
Vicious rumours claiming Brigitte was born a man have continually been spread online by conspiracy theorists and right-wing personalities, including American commentator Candace Owens.
Last March, Owens said she ‘would stake [her] entire professional reputation’ on the claim that Ms Macron was born a boy.
When the Macrons filed for defamation in July, Ms Owens hit back, saying she would demand a medical exam as part of any trial in the USA.
The Paris trial continues, and is expected to conclude on Tuesday.