Brigitte Macron’s accusers free to say what they like after appeal court ruling
Two women who had been convicted of defaming the French first lady Brigitte Macron by saying she was ‘born a man’ were today cleared on appeal.
Judges at the Appeal Court in Paris have today ruled that Amandine Roy, who is a 53-year-old clairvoyant, and Natacha Rey, who is 49 and a blogger, had every legal right to make the false allegations.
Both women claimed to have been subjected to ‘intimidation’ by the French authorities and accused ‘ultra protected’ members of the Paris establishment of trying to cover up a ‘state secret’.
Brigitte Macron. Pic: Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images
Lawyers for Brigitte Macron, who is 72, have indicated that the French First Lady is ‘devastated’ by the development, and plans to take the case to France’s Cassation Court which deals with civil and criminal cases and is the highest court in the land.
Ms Macron is currently returning from a State Visit to Britain with her husband, President Emmanuel Macron and was not in court to hear today’s judgement.
The two women who made the claims had appeared in a Youtube video back in 2021, in which they falsely claimed that Brigitte was in fact born a male, called ‘Jean-Michel Trogneax’ in 1953, but this is the name of Brigitte’s brother, and Trogneux was her surname before her first marriage.
French president Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron. Pic: Chesnot/Getty Images
The defendants also claimed that Brigitte’s first husband, André-Louis Auzière, had never actually existed.
Earlier this year, a Judge in Normandy fined the two women around €1,900 euros each, after finding them both guilty of libel, but now they won’t have to pay anything and are free to repeat their allegations against Ms Macron.
The two women had been sued by Ms Macron in 2022, but were not in court today to hear the judgement which ruled that the assertions made in the video ‘do not constitute defamation’ and instead represent ‘good faith’ free speech.
It comes as Brigitte Macron finds herself increasingly under attack, not just in France, but right across the globe, with several influencers like American Candace Owen also stirring up outlandish conspiracy theories about the French first lady.
Brigitte Macron. Pic: Chesnot/Getty Images
‘Becoming Brigitte’, a controversial book about her personal life written by journalist Xavier Poussard, is also said to be stirring up conspiracy theories about her.
Ms Macron is currently finishing up a State Visit to the UK along with her husband President Emmanuel Macron, despite being in mourning due to the sudden death of her older sister Anne-Marie Trogneux less than a week ago.
A spokesperson for the First Lady said ‘Madame Macron adored her sister, and the loss has affected her greatly, but she agreed it was her duty to be in the UK alongside her husband, despite it coinciding with a period of mourning’.
