Gilles Rossary-Lenglet assumes his role in this affair and accuses other defendants of financing the sex tape, in a testimony exclusive to franceinfo.
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“I’m a kind of service provider”, assures in an exclusive testimony for franceinfo Gilles Rossary-Langlet, the man who revealed the affair of “intimate video blackmail” targeting the former first deputy mayor of Saint-Étienne. Gilles Rossary-Lenglet, indicted for “complicity in blackmail” and “criminal association”, comes out of silence, while confrontations between the different protagonists in the case were organized on Tuesday April 16 and Wednesday April 17 in order to identify the role of everyone in the financing, filming and use of the sex tape showing Gilles Artigues in the company of an escort boy in a Parisian hotel.
Gilles Rossary-Lenglet takes on a role that he describes as “barbouze” in that case. “I admit to having been the one who set up the trap, that is to say the fact of having filmed Gilles Artigues in a room with an escort. I was not in this room, it is not I who put the camera on, I did the editing, but no more.”
The “more compromising and serious” financial aspect
He then charges the other defendants regarding financing: “I am a kind of service provider, a plumber, I am not the architect, the owner, the project manager. Those who decided to make a financial arrangement to pay me by tapping into the coffers of the public money, these are Gaël Perdriau [le maire] and Pierre Gauttieri [ex-directeur de cabinet du maire]with the complicity of Samy Kefi-Jérome [ex-adjoint au maire].” All three are confronted this week by the complainant. The financial aspect of this affair “is the most compromising and the most serious”according to Gilles Rossary-Lenglet. “The convictions are larger and more serious” And “proving the financial aspect closes any possible question about the veracity of my statements, because why would anyone pay me if there was not the kompromat behind it?”
Reveal this matter “was social suicide”, also confides Gilles Rossary-Lenglet. But he “do not regret”especially since “Gilles Artigues is the victim, but he is not innocent, he also committed acts that were more than politically questionable”he assures.
“I’m not here to try to ask for a tear to be shed over me, I’m here to tell the truth”
Gilles Rossary-Lengletat franceinfo
Gilles Rossary-Lenglet particularly accuses Gaël Perdriau, with whom he was confronted on Tuesday in the judges’ office. The mayor of Saint-Étienne is the only one at this stage to be triple indicted, for “blackmail”, “participation in a criminal association with a view to committing blackmail” and “embezzlement of public funds by a depositary of the public authority”.
The mayor of Saint-Étienne, a “little crook”
“He didn’t answer the judges’ questions, he gave us speeches. Ironically, I sometimes had the impression of being either in a municipal council or at a political meeting. It was lunar”, says Gilles Rossary-Lenglet. The mayor of Saint-Étienne is locked into denial for political purposes according to Gilles Rossary-Lenglet: “If he admitted to a quarter of a tenth of anything, it would be over for him politically, so he’s holding on. He’ll want to run again in 2026, so he’s preparing a narrative to say that he’s a victim, he will go to appeal and like that, he will be able to represent himself. He is someone who only wants to remain the mayor of Saint-Étienne.
“The behavior of Gaël Perdriau shows that I was right to denounce this because it really shows that he is a little crook who has hit the cash register and that he is not worthy of being the mayor of ‘a city, and even less of Saint-Étienne’concludes Gilles Rossary-Lenglet.
In this affair, the mayor of Saint-Étienne still denies any involvement. Asked by franceinfo, he did not wish to speak. New confrontations are planned on this financial aspect next month.