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It is a case that has shaken the metropolis of Saint-Etienne. The former first deputy mayor was the victim of intimate video blackmail for several years after being filmed without his knowledge. He testifies for the first time with the teams of Special Envoy.
For six years, Gilles Artigues did not speak to anyone about the blackmail that gnawed at him. “This case shattered my life, it interrupted my political journey abruptly“, he explains. In question: images shot early 2015 in a hotel room in Paris. The former first deputy mayor of Saint-Etienne (Loire) is filmed there in the company of a escort boy. The video was allegedly made to compromise him politically. “It’s blackmail, it’s harassment and it’s deadly tortureale”he continues.
The mayor maintains his innocence
The Special Envoy teams also met Gilles Rossary Lenglet, the one who accuses himself of being one of the instigators of this plot. He is indicted for blackmail and concealment. “I am the author of krompomat”he admits. According to him, three other men, including the mayor of Saint-Etienne, would be the sponsors. Gilles Artigues accuses them of having blackmailed himsix years old. “These meetings where I am tortured each time, where I am reminded each time of this story (…) I lowered my head, I knew that there was this threat“, notes the former deputy. The mayor has also been indicted, but maintains his innocence.