At the town hall of Saint-Etienne (Loire),
Without even a glance in the direction of the television cameras scrutinizing his entry into the municipal council chamber, Gaël Perdriau advanced with a determined step towards his chair, determined to continue his duties at the head of the town hall of Saint-Etienne. . “Under no circumstances can the city council turn into a court”, immediately attacks the elected official, suspected of being involved in a case of sextape blackmail.
At the time of the back-to-school municipal council, and one month to the day after the revelations of Mediapart, the chosen one knew it. He was expected around the corner. “I have never had or seen this video, I have never used it against the interests of Gilles Artigues which I have always supported. I have never diverted the slightest euro from a community”, he repeats, deploring that “some” have “declared that the manhunt is open”. “They don’t have the patience to wait for justice. The temptation is too good to finish off a man caught in the media storm,” the mayor still accuses.
In the room, the atmosphere quickly becomes electric. “But he dares to lecture! I dream”, indignantly a taxpayer who came to attend the council, before being called to order.
“Monsieur Perdriau, leave! »
“Mr. Perdriau, leave, says Lionel Boucher, departmental president of the UDI. All of France is watching us. You can no longer go out on our streets, you can no longer go out to make the slightest speech. Is it tenable? I see only one positive outcome for you, and that is resignation. Applause in the boardroom.
“If you like Saint-Etienne, you must renounce all of your functions yourself for the time of the investigation, intimates to him, in turn, Pierrick Courbon, leader of the opposition. Any other attitude would be an affront. »
But Gaël Perdriau does not break, does not yield an inch. “To date, anyone named in this case is presumed innocent. It is not because one is accused that one is guilty”, replies the mayor, considering himself the victim of a “political and media lynching”.
Indignant protests in the courtroom. “These accusations aim to destroy me and unite the forces that I was able to thwart”, continues Gaël Perdriau denouncing the “hate campaign” carried out against him. Pressed to answer questions from elected officials, as he had promised at the start of the session, the mayor suddenly turned around. “I invite you to move on to the first deliberation,” he suggests amid the whistles. Suspension of sitting. The opposition does not give up and returns to the charge. Wasted effort. The mayor still refuses to answer the questions raised and jumps to the next point. “It’s me who decides,” he decides before some of the elected opposition members leave the council room.