“Broken trust contract”, ” lies “, ” smoking “, “nauseous climate”, ” shame “… The mayor of Saint-Etienne, Gaël Perdriau (Les Républicains), refused to resign on Monday after a stormy municipal council, marked by virulent attacks from opposition politicians who blame him for his links in the blackmail affair politics to the “sextape” that has been shaking the city for a month.
“This story aims to destroy me”defended the elected 50-year-old, visibly tense, at the opening of the debates before his municipal assembly, in front of an audience and the media who came in large numbers. “The manhunt is on (…)some do not have the patience to wait for justice to do its job (…)the temptation is too strong to try to finish off a man caught in a media storm that crushes everything”he said in a heavy silence.
The city of 175,000 inhabitants has been agitated since the end of August by this intimate video affair which prompted a complaint for blackmail from the former centrist first deputy Gilles Artigues, absent from the debates on Monday “on the advice of his doctor”as one of the centrist advisers pointed out.
“Every day that passes damages our city”
“I ask only one thing of my colleagues, to continue to work as they have always done since the beginning of the mandate, and of you, like the others, to respect the presumption of innocence”had warned the mayor during a press briefing preceding the first meeting of the municipal council since the affair broke out.
For two hours, the elected representatives of the left (12 seats out of 59) and one of the four elected representatives of the UDI nevertheless gave voice to try to convince Gaël Perdriau, mayor of Saint-Etienne since 2014, to resign, while that its majority remained silent, preferring “not expressing oneself” on a case under investigation.
“Each passing day damages our city and feeds the soil of “all rotten””worried Pierrick Courbon, the leader of the left. “Real false starts are not enough”he launched, while Gaël Perdriau has already put himself on leave from the presidency of the metropolis.
“You no longer have moral legitimacy”affirmed the communist Michel Nebout, accusing Gaël Perdriau of “hold on to one’s post”. “Leave!… You had asked for the withdrawal of François Fillon” without waiting for the result of the judicial investigation, when the right-wing presidential candidate of 2017 got bogged down in accusations of nepotism and corruption, added the centrist Lionel Boucher: “Why don’t you apply it to yourself?” ».
The left-wing municipal group and then the two elected Communists left the session in turn, refusing to take part in the deliberations.
Demonstration and “starting drink” in front of the town hall
The scandal prompted the mayor to dismiss his chief of staff last week, while one of his deputies, namely accused of having shot a compromising video to politically neutralize Mr. Artigues, submitted his resignation. The three men were taken into custody in mid-September after the confessions of a former close to the town hall at the site Mediapartwho accused the mayor and his entourage of having fomented this “daubering of manners” by rewarding it by invoicing fictitious services on behalf of two cultural associations subsidized by the town hall.
On Monday, the mayor reiterated again that he had no “never had, never seen, never used” this video where we see Gilles Artigues being massaged by a man in a hotel room in Paris, in January 2015. “To say what you tell me is to condemn me and not to respect the presumption of innocence”he launched to the opposition.
His image, however, was tarnished by damning audio recordings released by Mediapart, widely quoted by opposition politicians during the debates. We hear Gaël Perdriau talking about this video with his ex-first deputy, evoking a broadcast “in a small circle, sparingly”in a conversation from July 2018, according to Mediapart. “Once it is on the networks, it is no longer blackmail, it is an execution”he says in another recording from November 2017, again according to Mediapart.
The city council was held as around 150 people including union activists demonstrated loudly in front of the town hall to demand the resignation of the mayor. A collective of Stéphanois “who want to fight” also organized a ” farewell “ for him at the end of the day.
The association Triangle rose calls for denouncing the “nauseous ambient climate” where reign “attacks, insults and rumours” related to a person’s sexual orientation.