A Paris court has found 10 people guilty of cyberbullying France's first lady Brigitte Macron with false online claims about her gender and sexuality.
Their sentences range from cyberbullying awareness training to eight-month suspended prison sentences.
Some of their posts suggested Macron was transgender, born a man, and were viewed tens of thousands of times.
Some linked her 24-year age gap with her husband Emmanuel Macron to paedophilia.
France Correspondent Catherine Field told Andrew Dickens that among the guilty are an elected official, a school teacher, and a woman who described herself as “a medium”.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talks. It'd be
follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Catherine Field from Paris, joints US, Good morning to you.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Good morning Andrew, and have a new year.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Thank you so much. Hey, we have the Coalition of
the Willing meeting today in Paris.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
We do if ever we needed reminding that there is
still a war going on in Europe and Ukraine four
years now. The Coalition of the Willing, that's twenty seven
heads of state or heads of government will be coming
to the Lease Palace Presidential Palace. Apparently this time they
(00:49):
are coming to talk about a convergence on security guarantees
for Ukraine. Now. In particular, what they want is a
verified cease fire, get in there and support the Ukrainian army,
make up some sort of multinational force that would be
on the ground in Ukraine, and then find some way
(01:10):
of supporting the Ukrainian armed forces in case of some
new outbreak of fighting.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
So, you know, Andrew, it's very strange as well, because we've.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Had these meetings before and it's not the first time
we've seen the Canadian the Italian prime ministers coming to
Paris to talk about this.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
But there does seem to be a sort of element of.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Urgency now and a little bit of hope creeping into it.
We had a briefing from the Elisa Palace just a
couple of hours ago. We felt that there was a
change of mood. They now feel that something has to
be done to support Ukraine. One of the weird things
that we've never heard before. They were very firm that
there would be no telephone call with Donald Trump during
(01:52):
the meeting.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Quite what that means, we don't know.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
They also said that there will be no telephone call
with Putin, so that they're not going to talk to
Putin again until he has said there will be a ceasefire.
And then they said if he does that, then they'll
send an ambassador around to talk to her to get
talks underway. So we're looking at that and you're wondering
what's going to happen, because also as I speak, there's
(02:16):
a pre meeting of that which are all of the
army chiefs of those countries that are there's thirty five
nations that are part of the Coalition of the Willing Yes.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
And every time they've had these meetings of the Coalition
of the Willing. Everyone said, well, will you make a
concrete commitment to Ukraine's security in the case of a
cease phone. They never quite get there, But you're saying,
maybe we're a bit closer this time, we're.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
A bit closer to them to talking about how much
closer they might be. I mean, obviously the big thing
about this, Andrew is don't upset Donald Trump. Don't say
anything which might cause the American President to just take
all his stuff away and say I'm not having anything
to deal with this, is to do with this anymore.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Well, that's the key.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
If they're not talking to Donald Trump, what are they
saying about what happened in Venezuela the other day? And
of course Donald's casual, casual assertion that I might just seizeland.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
Well, first off, when it came to Venezuela, of course everyone,
particularly the French and also initially the Brits were very
very treading very softly softly there. And I think the
general agreement now has been that what has been going
on in Venezuela is an opportunity for a democratic transition,
(03:31):
which is a nice way of saying, well, this is
just the start let's hope it goes on to something
else when it comes to Greenland that has really shaken Europe.
This revival of Donald Trump's ambition to incorporate Greenland into
US territory has prompted virtually every European leader to jump
up and down and say, hey, there is the rule
(03:52):
of law, there is national security. You can't just annex
part of another person's country. And I think, you know,
we had a warning that this was coming again in December,
just before Christmas, when Donald Trump appointed that special envoy
to Greenland. He was asked specifically with integrating Greenland into
the US. But just in the last couple of hours,
(04:13):
the biggest warning has come from the Danish Prime Minister.
She has said that Trump should be taken seriously when
he talks about taking Greenland into part of the US territory.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
And she warned further that if.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
He did that, and here's the worrying pitt She said,
that would be the end of the NATO alliance, and
with that, that would be the end of security which
has been established since.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
The end of the Second World War.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yes, but if it's true that Donald Trump and his
administration have gone back to the Munroe Munroe doctrine which
came in in eighteen twenty three, which is, we don't
care us stuff what Europe thinks, he doesn't give us stuff.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
That's exactly it. And we've been seeing these fears of influence.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
Your America has decided that whatever is in the Americas
is up to them, and putin is you're pretty much
taken care of your Central Asia right through to Ukraine.
Europe again is having to find itself talking with one
voice standing up. And when they actually don't have an
army that's big enough, strong enough to deterel this sort
(05:19):
of thing, then they've got problems.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Okay, Now some people have been charged with cyber bullying
France's first Lady Blegite Macron.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Indeed, now this has been going on for some time.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
This is actually the verdict of a trial that was
held last October. Ten people found guilty, eight men, two
women found guilty of what the judge decided was particularly degrading,
insulting and malicious rumors on the internet. It said that
these damaged her mental health and this was cyber bullying.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
There was no reason for it. It was malicious.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Among the verdict, she had it down there were between
four and eight month suspended sentence for them all. There
was six month suspension of using social media. They've all
had two be signed up for training on awareness of
online bullying, and they've all got to pay damages to
the first lady. Among the people who were there andrew
(06:19):
who were found guilty, an elected official, a school teacher.
One of the defendants a fifty one year old woman
who described herself as a medium. She was given a
six month suspended sentence after having posted a four hour
video on YouTube giving her side of the story as
to whether or not Macron was born a man. Now,
(06:41):
this is the particular false claim that's been doing the
rounds for some time, and of course we're going to
hear more of that later this year because Emmanuel Macron,
the French president, and his wife have also taken similar
case against an American conspiracy theorist, and that will be
coming to court in Delaware, the United States later this year.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
A four our video on whether Bjeeke Macran is a
man from a woman who is a medium. Geei, have
you got a link? I'd love to watch that.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Sometimes you just couldn't make it up good.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
I know, I know, I know, Thank you so much,
Catherine Field.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
For more from News Talks at b listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio
You're listening to a podcast from News Talks. It'd be
follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Catherine Field from Paris, joints US, Good morning to you.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Good morning Andrew, and have a new year.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Thank you so much. Hey, we have the Coalition of
the Willing meeting today in Paris.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
We do if ever we needed reminding that there is
still a war going on in Europe and Ukraine four
years now. The Coalition of the Willing, that's twenty seven
heads of state or heads of government will be coming
to the Lease Palace Presidential Palace. Apparently this time they
(00:49):
are coming to talk about a convergence on security guarantees
for Ukraine. Now. In particular, what they want is a
verified cease fire, get in there and support the Ukrainian army,
make up some sort of multinational force that would be
on the ground in Ukraine, and then find some way
(01:10):
of supporting the Ukrainian armed forces in case of some
new outbreak of fighting.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
So, you know, Andrew, it's very strange as well, because we've.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Had these meetings before and it's not the first time
we've seen the Canadian the Italian prime ministers coming to
Paris to talk about this.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
But there does seem to be a sort of element of.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Urgency now and a little bit of hope creeping into it.
We had a briefing from the Elisa Palace just a
couple of hours ago. We felt that there was a
change of mood. They now feel that something has to
be done to support Ukraine. One of the weird things
that we've never heard before. They were very firm that
there would be no telephone call with Donald Trump during
(01:52):
the meeting.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Quite what that means, we don't know.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
They also said that there will be no telephone call
with Putin, so that they're not going to talk to
Putin again until he has said there will be a ceasefire.
And then they said if he does that, then they'll
send an ambassador around to talk to her to get
talks underway. So we're looking at that and you're wondering
what's going to happen, because also as I speak, there's
(02:16):
a pre meeting of that which are all of the
army chiefs of those countries that are there's thirty five
nations that are part of the Coalition of the Willing Yes.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
And every time they've had these meetings of the Coalition
of the Willing. Everyone said, well, will you make a
concrete commitment to Ukraine's security in the case of a
cease phone. They never quite get there, But you're saying,
maybe we're a bit closer this time, we're.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
A bit closer to them to talking about how much
closer they might be. I mean, obviously the big thing
about this, Andrew is don't upset Donald Trump. Don't say
anything which might cause the American President to just take
all his stuff away and say I'm not having anything
to deal with this, is to do with this anymore.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Well, that's the key.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
If they're not talking to Donald Trump, what are they
saying about what happened in Venezuela the other day? And
of course Donald's casual, casual assertion that I might just seizeland.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
Well, first off, when it came to Venezuela, of course everyone,
particularly the French and also initially the Brits were very
very treading very softly softly there. And I think the
general agreement now has been that what has been going
on in Venezuela is an opportunity for a democratic transition,
(03:31):
which is a nice way of saying, well, this is
just the start let's hope it goes on to something
else when it comes to Greenland that has really shaken Europe.
This revival of Donald Trump's ambition to incorporate Greenland into
US territory has prompted virtually every European leader to jump
up and down and say, hey, there is the rule
(03:52):
of law, there is national security. You can't just annex
part of another person's country. And I think, you know,
we had a warning that this was coming again in December,
just before Christmas, when Donald Trump appointed that special envoy
to Greenland. He was asked specifically with integrating Greenland into
the US. But just in the last couple of hours,
(04:13):
the biggest warning has come from the Danish Prime Minister.
She has said that Trump should be taken seriously when
he talks about taking Greenland into part of the US territory.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
And she warned further that if.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
He did that, and here's the worrying pitt She said,
that would be the end of the NATO alliance, and
with that, that would be the end of security which
has been established since.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
The end of the Second World War.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yes, but if it's true that Donald Trump and his
administration have gone back to the Munroe Munroe doctrine which
came in in eighteen twenty three, which is, we don't
care us stuff what Europe thinks, he doesn't give us stuff.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
That's exactly it. And we've been seeing these fears of influence.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
Your America has decided that whatever is in the Americas
is up to them, and putin is you're pretty much
taken care of your Central Asia right through to Ukraine.
Europe again is having to find itself talking with one
voice standing up. And when they actually don't have an
army that's big enough, strong enough to deterel this sort
(05:19):
of thing, then they've got problems.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Okay, Now some people have been charged with cyber bullying
France's first Lady Blegite Macron.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Indeed, now this has been going on for some time.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
This is actually the verdict of a trial that was
held last October. Ten people found guilty, eight men, two
women found guilty of what the judge decided was particularly degrading,
insulting and malicious rumors on the internet. It said that
these damaged her mental health and this was cyber bullying.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
There was no reason for it. It was malicious.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Among the verdict, she had it down there were between
four and eight month suspended sentence for them all. There
was six month suspension of using social media. They've all
had two be signed up for training on awareness of
online bullying, and they've all got to pay damages to
the first lady. Among the people who were there andrew
(06:19):
who were found guilty, an elected official, a school teacher.
One of the defendants a fifty one year old woman
who described herself as a medium. She was given a
six month suspended sentence after having posted a four hour
video on YouTube giving her side of the story as
to whether or not Macron was born a man. Now,
(06:41):
this is the particular false claim that's been doing the
rounds for some time, and of course we're going to
hear more of that later this year because Emmanuel Macron,
the French president, and his wife have also taken similar
case against an American conspiracy theorist, and that will be
coming to court in Delaware, the United States later this year.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
A four our video on whether Bjeeke Macran is a
man from a woman who is a medium. Geei, have
you got a link? I'd love to watch that.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Sometimes you just couldn't make it up good.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
I know, I know, I know, Thank you so much,
Catherine Field.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
For more from News Talks at b listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio
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