ISTANBUL

A Paris criminal court on Monday convicted 10 people of cyberbullying over a coordinated online disinformation campaign that falsely claimed France's first lady Brigitte Macron was "transgender and a pedophile."

The court imposed suspended sentences ranging from four to eight months, alongside additional penalties, including account suspensions and mandatory awareness courses.

Speaking on French television on Sunday, Brigitte Macron said she wanted to set an example in the fight against bullying, particularly for teenagers.

The Macrons filed a lawsuit in July against the right-wing US podcaster Candace Owens, alleging that she engaged in defamation.

The suit, filed in a court in the US state of Delaware, centers on Owens' claims that that the French first lady was born a man and transitioned to a woman under a stolen identity, as well as allegations that the Macrons are related and so are committing incest and that Macron was chosen to become the French president by the US spy agency the CIA.

The 219-page complaint seeks a jury trial on 22 counts related to the claims made on Owens' show, including in an eight-part series that made a number of claims about the Macrons, as well as over Owens’ rebuffs to three retraction demands sent since last December, according to the suit.

False claims about Brigitte Macron’s gender have circulated on social media for years, dating back to 2021, when two French women posted a YouTube video alleging she was once a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux -- who is actually her brother.

In July, the Macrons also took their case against the two women to the highest appeals court after the Paris Court of Appeal overturned earlier convictions.