Piotr Pavlenski and Alexandra de Taddeo returned to correctional

The Russian artist Piotr Pavlenski and his partner Alexandra de Taddeo are sent back to corrections for “invasion of privacy” by Benjamin Griveaux, franceinfo learned from a judicial source on Tuesday September 6, confirming information from AFP.

They are suspected of screenshots of intimate exchanges between the then Secretary of State and Alexandra de Taddeo on Piotr Pavlenski’s website on February 12, 2020, “Pornopolitique”, resulting in the withdrawal of Benjamin Griveaux’s candidacy of the race for municipal elections. The couple were charged a few days later.

The investigating judges consider, with the public prosecutor, that the involvement of the two suspects in the invasion of privacy is clear, since Alexandra de Taddeo admits having recorded the ephemeral videos sent by Benjamin Griveaux in 2018 and since Piotr Pavlenski recognizes having recovered them to distribute them and even claims it as a gesture of“political art”to denounce the contradictions between the words and actions of Benjamin Griveaux.

The text that accompanied the photos on its website referring in particular to a statement by the wife of the government spokesperson who boasted in Paris Match her husband’s frankness in a political world filled with hypocrisy. “The investigation was unnecessarily long, my client is impatient to be able to speak in court”reacted the lawyer for the Russian activist, Me Yassine Bouzrou, on Tuesday at franceinfo.

On the other hand, the judges question the statements of Alexandra de Taddeo when she says that she was not informed of the project of her companion. They note that the “Pornopolitique” site was financed by an association which she chaired, that she wrote several messages suggesting that she knew what the Russian activist was going to do and that by deleting all the documents recorded on her computer, she had deliberately obstructed the investigation. The judges even believe that it is “allowed to wonder about the real reason for his resumption of contact with Benjamin Griveaux” in January 2020, a month before the images were released.

In addition, the investigating judges decided to dismiss the case concerning the lawyer Juan Branco, close to the activist and who had declared that he wanted to “fall” Benjamin Griveaux. According to the judges, “many elements suggest” that he played a role, but the investigations failed to prove it. On this point, Me Yassine Bouzrou, who also represents Juan Branco, reaffirms to franceinfo that his client had “happy to do his job” initially representing Piotr Pavlenski. He estimates that “the dismissal, which was necessary, demonstrates that the surveillance and investigations which targeted Mr. Branco constitute a major attack on the exercise of the legal profession”.

Solicited by franceinfo, Benjamin Griveaux’s lawyer did not wish to comment.