The five police custody, including that of the mayor of Saint-Etienne Gaël Perdriau, ordered Tuesday, September 13 in the morning as part of the judicial investigation into a sextape blackmail against the former first deputy Gilles Artigues, are now lifted, learned franceinfo from a source close to the investigation.
In addition to the mayor of Saint-Etienne, his chief of staff, Pierre Gauttieri, his deputy chief of staff Claire Vocanson, as well as the two people suspected of having co-organized the conspiracy Gilles Rossary-Lenglet and Samy Kéfi-Jérôme had been taken into custody on Tuesday morning.
“The purpose of these hearings was to collect the first statements of the main protagonists of this case and in particular those of those who had spoken in the media in recent weeks and in particular after the searches carried out on September 5, 2022”explains the prosecution.
They are suspected of being involved, at different levels, in a sextape blackmail that lasted for years against Gilles Artigues, the former first deputy mayor of Saint-Etienne. The case was revealed by Mediapart on August 26.
Gilles Rossary-Lenglet told Mediapart that he had organized, with his ex-companion Samy Kéfi-Jérôme, an appointment at Gilles Artigues with an escort boy to trap him. The scene was filmed and, according to him, the video allowed the municipal team of Gaël Perdriau and his chief of staff to put pressure on Gilles Artigues to dissuade him from a possible dissidence. Gilles Rossary-Lenglet claims to have received 50,000 euros for the operation, from the town hall of Saint-Etienne.
After these revelations, the mayor of Saint-Etienne denied any involvement in this case but, since then, Mediapart has posted several recordings of conversations, some of which, according to the media, are exchanges between Gaël Perdriau and Gilles Artigues about this blackmail.
Judicial information for “invasion of privacy, aggravated blackmail, embezzlement of public property by a person in charge of a public function, breach of trust and concealment of these offenses”. Searches took place at the town hall of Saint-Etienne on September 5.
Because of this case, Gaël Perdriau will be expelled from the Les Républicains party, the exclusion procedure is underway, LR secretary general Aurélien Pradié told franceinfo on Tuesday.
“If it is now up to the courts, in view of the latest revelations on Monday, to decide on the guilt and the degree of involvement of Mr. Perdriau, the Republicans can only condemn the despicable methods used by the mayor of Saint-Etienne against a political rival. These methods are unworthy of an elected representative of the Republic and such acts are totally contrary to the values upheld and defended by Les Républicains in the public debate.”explains the party in a press release on Tuesday.
The mafia actions of Gaël Perdriau are intolerable for our political family as well as for our public life.
With @ChJacob77, we had already dismissed him from his national functions. He no longer paid his elected dues. It must be and will be excluded. Out !
— Aurelien Pradie (@AurelienPradie) September 13, 2022