Group going on trial after 'French first lady likened to paedophile'

Four men are to go on trial in Paris accused of various things including likening French first lady Brigitte Macron 'to a paedophile'.

The prosecution follows years of online abuse against the 71-year-old, who is 24 years older than her husband, President Emmanuel Macron, 47.

There have also been hugely malicious comments about Ms Macron's gender, with some saying she was born a man.

Ms Macron filed a criminal complaint in August, and, on Thursday, city prosecutors confirmed a cyber-harassment trial will take place in July 2025.

Specifically, the process will focus 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.

A statement added: 'On August 27, Brigitte Macron filed a complaint for cyberbullying, an offence punishable by two years of imprisonment.

'An investigation entrusted to the Brigade for the Suppression of Crimes against Persons was opened for cyberbullying and incitement to commit an offence.'

The future President Macron was just 15 when he began a relationship with the then married mother-of-three, Brigitte Auzière, in 1992, when she his drama teacher at La Providence high school, in their home town of Amiens, northern France.

Both have always denied any impropriety, but this has not stopped online campaigns.

Among the accused is Aurelien Poirson-Atlan, a 40-year-old known on social media as 'Zoe Sagan', where he spreads multiple conspiracy theories.

His posts include one saying Ms Macron was in fact born as a baby boy called Jean-Michel Trogneux in 1953.

This is the name of Ms Macron's brother, and she was called Brigitte Trogneux before her first marriage.

The defendant also claimed that Brigitte's first husband, André-Louis Auzière, had never actually existed before his reported death in 2020, aged 68.

Also due to appear in the dock after being arrested on Tuesday are Jean-Luc M., 64 and living in Saône-et-Loire); Bertrand S., 55, from Paris; and Jean-Christophe D.,53, from Seine-et-Marne.

All the accused deny the charges, with, Juan Branco, for Poirson-Atlan, saying the prosecution was 'taking an obvious political direction.'

He said it was particularly outrageous that his client was being kept on remand for what amounted to a published matter of opinion.

Read More

Brigitte Macron awarded damages over false claim she is actually a transgender man named Jean-Michel

In September, two women were ordered to pay the equivalent of £7000 in damages to Ms Macron after falsely claiming she was transgender.

The disinformation appeared in a now-deleted YouTube video.

The four men in the latest trial will appear before Paris Criminal Court judges on July 10, 2025.

The transphobic rumours about Ms Macron were picked up by the far-Right in 2022, while President Macron was campaigning for re-election.

Groups including the Yellow Vests (Gilets Jaunes) and those protesting against Covid vaccines all used the claims to attack the Macrons.

In March, Ms Macron's own daughter talked publicly about the accusations against the première dame.

Tiphaine Auzière, 41, told Paris Match: 'I have concerns about the level of society when I hear what is circulating on social networks about my mother being a man.'

Ms Auzière also discussed how wounded she remained after discovering as a 10-year-old child that her teacher mother was seeing the teenage Emmanuel Macron.