<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Ten people will go on trial over cyberbullying of Brigitte Macron after they allegedly made "malicious" comments online spreading claims that </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/france" rel="" target="" title="French"><span>French</span></a><span> President </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/emmanuel-macron" rel="" target="" title="Emmanuel Macron"><span>Emmanuel Macron</span></a><span>'s wife is a man.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/paris" rel="" target="" title="Paris"><span>Paris</span></a><span> prosecutor's office said the eight men and two women were accused of spreading "numerous malicious comments" online about the first lady's gender and "sexuality" and of mentioning her age gap with her husband as "paedophilia".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Aged between 41 and 60, some of the defendants are very active on the social media, with posts sometimes cumulating dozens of thousands of views. </span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/queensland-storms-weather-forecast-power-outages-amid-wild-winds-weather-hot-temperatures/911b4f1c-c726-40d6-809a-81c230ea5167"><strong><span>'Just horrific': Staggering scale of state's wild weather realised</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A woman presenting herself as a medium and an advertising executive, whose X account has since been suspended, are considered as having played a major role in spreading the rumour.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Others include an elected official, a teacher and a computer scientist.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Macrons have for years been dogged by conspiracy theories that Brigitte was born a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux, who supposedly then took the name Brigitte as a transgender woman. Jean-Michel Trogneux is the name of Brigitte's brother.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/brigitte-macron-trial-ten-people-face-trial-accused-of-cyberbullying-french-president-emmanuel-macrons-wife/a4126629-391f-4545-a102-8c62f8c0d61e" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The two-day trial in Paris starting on Monday comes after the Macrons filed a defamation suit in July in a Delaware court as their lawyer said they'll be seeking "substantial" damages from US conservative influencer Candace Owens if she persists with claims that Brigitte is a man.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Owens is a right-leaning political commentator whose YouTube channel has about 4.5 million subscribers. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In 2024, she was denied a visa from New Zealand and Australia, citing remarks in which she denied Nazi medical experimentation on Jews in concentration camps during World War II.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/father-of-three-year-old-who-died-in-police-station-foyer-will-remain-behind-bars-gold-coast/3c7f42e5-04a6-422a-abd3-ba0d4499f5b2"><strong><span>Dad refused bail after boy dies in police station foyer</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/tim-whetstone-instagram-posts-south-australia-politics/93162b8a-334c-4a56-9b6a-9a4ed97966a3" rel="" target="" title=""><strong><span>State MP forced to explain 'inappropriate' Instagram activity</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A verdict in the Paris case will likely be issued at a later date.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In September 2024, Brigitte and Jean-Michel Trogneux won a defamation suit against two women who were sentenced by a Paris court to fines and damages for spreading the claims about the first lady online. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A Paris appeals court overturned the ruling in July. Brigitte and her brother have since turned to France's highest court to appeal that decision.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Macrons, who have been married since 2007, first met at the high school where he was a student and she was a teacher. Brigitte Macron, 24 years her husband's senior, was then called Brigitte Auzière, a married mother of three.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Emmanuel Macron, 47, has been France's president since 2017.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em></em><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f"><em><strong><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></strong></em></a><em><strong><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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