This Tuesday, October 28, was the second day of the trial of ten defendants accused of online sexist harassment of the first lady of France, for spreading conspiracy theories that portray the wife of President Emmanuel Macron as a transgender woman and even as a pedophile.
“I am here as a daughter, as a woman, as a mother.” With a determined voice, Tiphaine Auzière, Brigitte Macron’s youngest daughter, spoke before the Paris court. Brigitte Macron was not present, but Tiphaine appeared in the courtroom as a witness to express the “suffering” caused by the smear campaign on social media against her mother, focused on conspiracy theories. “It is important to be here today to show the prejudice that my mother has suffered,” explains Auzière, also a lawyer, according to La Repubblica.
“I wanted to show how her life has changed since this online hate campaign began.” According to her, fake news, which has taken on global proportions and spread as far as the US, has caused a significant deterioration in the living conditions of the French president’s wife.
“I have noticed a real change and a deterioration in her health, although I am not a doctor and only a doctor can certify it. But it is noticeable.” A medical certificate signed by the first lady’s doctor is attached to the file and confirms the impact on psychophysical health, “caused by messages that were experienced as harassment.” Tiphaine Auzière, 41, also known as a public figure for her relationship with the famous TV presenter Cyril Hanouna, describes a daily ordeal that affects her mother’s habits.
“Since some photos taken in family contexts have been manipulated, she is forced to show extreme care about her clothing, her posture, every detail. She knows very well that any image can be distorted and used to feed lies about her identity and honor,” the girl explains. “She constantly faces attacks. She reads the posts that talk about her, and when she doesn’t read them, there are those who mention her in professional and private contexts.” Although she admits that her mother “has learned to live with this,” Auzière emphasizes that the greatest pain for Brigitte Macron remains “the consequences for her children and grandchildren.” “She is a person who was not elected, who did not ask for anything, and finds herself exposed to unnecessary violence, while all the initiatives she is involved in are for the common good.”
During the hearing, the first lady’s daughter was also questioned by the civil parties’ lawyers. Some of the defendants continue to support the thesis that Brigitte Macron and her brother Jean-Michel Trogneux are in fact the same person. Auzière replied without hesitation: “I saw my uncle a few months ago.” Defense lawyers criticized the answers as “empty” and the first lady’s absence from the hearing. “She goes to fashion shows, but she doesn’t come to court,” one of the defendants’ lawyers quipped. Also in the dock is publicist Aurélien Poirson-Atlan, who has spread conspiracy theories under the pseudonym Zoé Sagan, and whose X profile has been blocked. Poirson-Atlan has defended his right to express, as “satire,” an “alternative point of view to the mainstream media.”
“I am an absolutist of freedom of expression,” he added. The prosecutor has requested sentences of 3 to 12 months in prison for nine of the ten defendants. The decision is expected in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, the first lady has another trial in the Court of Cassation against two women who had spread the fake news four years ago. The presidential couple has also sued American influencer Candace Owens in the Delaware Supreme Court.