At the end of a day of marathon hearings, the four protagonists stuck in the case of political blackmail at the sextape in Saint-Etienne were indicted Thursday evening, and placed under judicial control. In the meantime, investigations will continue to determine the role of each, starting with that of Gaël Perdriau.
A blackmailing mayor quick to disqualify his rival?
At this stage of the investigation, the mayor of Saint-Etienne, who reiterated his refusal to resign, is only indicted for “blackmail” and “subtraction”. For the moment, it is by no means established that he orchestrated the “ambush”, nor that he was the sponsor of the video, shot without the knowledge of his former first deputy Gilles Artigues in 2014. Even yes, Gilles Rossary-Lenglet, the man who revealed the affair, formally designates him.
For the latter, the motive is established: it was a question of putting pressure on Gilles Artigues in order to dissuade him from any hint of dissidence, or even to present himself at the town hall of Saint-Etienne. “At this stage we cannot predict who is the sponsor, but serious and concordant indications weigh on the mayor of Saint-Etienne”, supports with AFP Me André Buffard, the lawyer of Gilles Artigues.
Recordings published by Mediapart and transmitted to the investigators show, on the other hand, that Gaël Perdriau was aware of this video. And that he implied in front of his assistant, at least twice, the possibility of making her flee. “Once it’s on the networks, it’s no longer blackmail, it’s execution,” he warned in 2017, three years before the municipal elections. Then in 2018, he told him: “We are not obliged to broadcast publicly”, specifying that there are “other ways of doing it” such as broadcasting “in small circles, with parsimony”.
A sponsoring chief of staff?
Pierre Gauttierri, the mayor’s former chief of staff, refused to answer questions from investigators. This did not prevent him from being indicted for “blackmail with execution of the threat”, “concealment of property obtained with the help of embezzlement”, “complicity in embezzlement”, “embezzlement of public funds by a depositary of public authority”, “use, storage or disclosure of a document or recording relating to words or images of a sexual nature and obtained by an invasion of privacy”.
The one who assumed “to operate like a criminal”, and “in the same way” to have “no faith or law”, is suspected of being one of the sponsors of this “smearing of morals” aimed at disqualifying the first deputy centrist, known for his Catholic commitment and his conservative view on homosexuality. What he denies.
The recordings disclosed by Mediapart yet update his methods of intimidation. “If the fact that I go to jail makes you fall because you pass for an old pedal on the return (…) I have no problem”, he launched to the person concerned in 2017.
The conversations also attest that the man had in his possession the compromising document. “I have a video showing you the ass in the air with a guy. It does not bother you ? The very Catholic deputy Gilles Artigues very good father in something like that? “, he quips to the attention of the first deputy. And to threaten him: “If you do that (file a complaint), all the parents and students who are in the same class as your children will receive a copy of the film. And I don’t think your children will recover from it”.
A deputy and his lover on the job
Gilles Rossary-Lenglet, by whom the scandal broke out, was at the time of the facts in a relationship with Samy Kéfi-Jérôme, young deputy to the town hall of Saint-Etienne in charge of Education. In front of the investigators, he acknowledged his role: that of having organized the set up in connection with his ex-lover, who is in particular indicted for “invasion of the intimacy of private life by fixation” and “recording or transmission of the image of a person of a sexual nature”.
At the end of 2014, Gilles Artigues and Samy Kéfi-Jérôme traveled to Paris for a meeting. “We thought it was time and we organized an evening especially for him”, confessed Gilles Rossary to Mediapart. He was responsible for contacting an escort-boy site, his companion to do the rest. On site, Kéfi-Jérôme offers Gilles Artigues to join him in a room, in which he had taken care to install a camera. He introduces her to an acquaintance. In reality, a gigolo paid “200 euros per hour” in cash. Then he slips away, leaving the two men alone. The following ? He recovers the video of about thirty minutes then mounts a trailer entitled “In bed with Gilles Artigues”, presented in February 2015 to the person concerned. With the promise of knowing “the rest of the next episode”.
Today, Kéfi-Jérôme accuses his former companion of stealing the video from him. He admitted having received 50,000 euros. In his confession, he indicates that he was paid via fictitious services invoiced by two local associations, which had just received significant municipal subsidies.