GILLES ARTIGUES. The former first deputy of Saint-Étienne files a complaint against former colleagues including the deputy for Education and the mayor, Gaël Perdriau, for blackmail after the revelations of Médiapart on an intimate video filmed without the knowledge of Gilles Artigues .
[Mis à jour le 29 août 2022 à 10h22] Gilles Artigues, the former first deputy mayor of Saint-Etienne, has decided to denounce the “machination which [lui] has rotten life”. This Monday, August 29, the man lodged a complaint with the Public Prosecutor of Saint-Etienne for “ambush in an organized gang”, “blackmail” and “threats”, indicated his lawyer Me Buffard near France Blue. The complaint targets the erotic video filmed without the knowledge of Gilles Artigues by political “friends” who also worked at the town hall, including the current deputy for Education, Samy Kéfi-Jérôme, according to the investigation by Mediapart.
According to his lawyer, Gilles Artigues is “relieved that the case has been revealed publicly. […] He’s been blackmailed for years and as often, people who are blackmailed, there is a feeling of guilt and an impossibility to reveal things.” After six years of blackmail – the former deputy mayor has learned of the compromising video in 2016 – Gilles Artigues is counting on the investigation and the evidence collected by the online newspaper to win his case with the courts, especially since other complaints will be filed one for “non-denunciation of a crime or misdemeanor” targeting the mayor of Saint-Etienne, Gaël Perdriau, who was aware of the existence of this video and the related blackmail according to the confidences of Gilles Artigues to his lawyer. a final complaint alleging “embezzlement of public funds” must complete the list.
Gilles Artigues hopes to live the end of an ordeal and could reveal new elements on this case of blackmail to justice, according to his lawyer. The former deputy who spoke only through his lawyer broke the silence on August 29 in a message posted on Facebook. The former deputy mayor of Saint-Etienne thanked the messages of support he received and said he had already thought about suicide: “This life which is so beautiful and which I have thought of leaving several times, I was desperate.”
What blackmail was Gilles Artigues the victim of?
Gilles Artigues has been the victim of blackmail for six years. The politician was filmed without his knowledge during an intimate evening in Paris, with a gay escort. According to the newspaper Médiapart, he was trapped by his assistant colleagues at the town hall and the purpose of this operation was to contain the influence and ambitions of Gilles Artigues, who has since suffered the consequences of this act. The aedile is a father involved in the Catholic community and the revelation of the video could have harmed his career, while going against the ideas he defended.
Mediapart reveals that the local elected representative of the majority, Samy Kéfi-Jérôme would be at the origin of this video. He did not wish to answer questions from the newspaper and first denied the existence of the video, before claiming that it was stolen from him by his ex-companion, Gilles Rossary-Lenglet, who says he participated to the operation. He reports to the investigative newspaper that 50,000 euros would have been claimed in return for the video and would have passed through municipal subsidies. The mayor of Saint-Étienne, Gaël Perdriau also denies any involvement: “I am not aware of such a project”, he alleges.
Maître André Buffard, lawyer for the alleged victim, has, for his part, hinted that his client was certainly going to reveal new elements. Indeed, if he was well aware of being the victim of blackmail, Gilles Artigues had not understood that he was at the center of such a plot: “In the light of your information, my client discovers that he was the victim of a well thought-out conspiracy and a machination to eliminate him, my client therefore reserves the right to reveal to the courts the details of the pressures he has been subjected to for all these years, insofar as he decided to file a complaint for “aggravated blackmail”, he wrote.
The video in question shows an escort providing an erotic massage to Gilles Artigues. During the thirty minutes and thirty-three seconds of images, the chosen one appears naked, but no sexual relationship is filmed. According Mediapart, the content is however explicit enough to put Gilles Artigues in difficulty. The latter has never viewed the entire recording. On the other hand, a sequence of 2 minutes and 11 seconds was broadcast to him during an appointment with Samy Kéfi-Jérôme. Entitled “In bed with Gilles Artigues”, it shows passages from the intimate evening of the chosen one, recalling his Catholic commitments. The short video ends with a warning: “We’re going to take a break… Next episode…” This is where the nightmare begins for Gilles Artigues.
Born in 1965, Gilles Artigues appeared on the political scene of Saint-Étienne in 1995, as assistant to the associative life, relate The echoes. The man is at the origin of the association “Young people for a faith” which broadcasts Christian culture and the experiences of radio stations such as Radio Espérance. Gilles Artigues was UDF deputy for Loire from 2002 to 2007. In 2007, he became a member of François Bayrou’s presidential campaign. From April 2011 to March 2015, he was 4th Vice-President of the General Council of the Loire, in charge of education, youth and urban policies. During the 2014 municipal elections in Saint-Étienne, he allied himself in the first round with the UMP candidate, Gaël Perdriau and became his first deputy after the victory of the list. In 2014, he was also appointed 7th vice-president of Saint-Étienne Métropole, responsible in particular for city policy. In 2020, when Gaël Perdriau was re-elected, he was reappointed as first deputy mayor. He resigns from this position in May 2022, for “professional reasons”, reports the newspaper Progress. He had at that time mentioned a project for which he had to free up time.