Saint-Étienne sex tape appeal: prosecutor requests three years jail for ex-mayor Gaël Perdriau, verdict on 10 September
The Lyon appeals court heard a final day of arguments in the sex tape blackmail case against Gaël Perdriau. Prosecutors asked for five years in prison, three of them firm, and a ten-year ban from public office.
On Friday, the general prosecutor's office at the Lyon court of appeal asked for a five-year sentence (three firm) and ten years of ineligibility against the former mayor of Saint-Étienne, Gaël Perdriau. The 53-year-old has always denied ordering a kompromat operation to silence his first deputy, Gilles Artigues, in 2015. The request is slightly more lenient than the five years with four firm that he received at first instance in December 2025, a sentence he only partially served over two months of provisional detention this winter before being released pending appeal.
The trap set for the deputy
In 2015, three close associates of Perdriau recruited a sex worker and filmed him with Gilles Artigues using a hidden camera. The former deputy for education, Samy Kéfi-Jérôme, handled the filming; his then-partner, Gilles Rossary-Lenglet, designed the trap. Both admitted their role in what they described as a "dirty trick" and stated that Perdriau was the instigator. Kéfi-Jérôme received a two-year firm sentence at first instance and did not appeal the length; the prosecutor asked for the same term on Friday. Rossary-Lenglet, already sentenced to three years, now faces a possible heavier penalty. The former chief of staff, Pierre Gauttieri, described by colleagues as an authoritarian and angry Rasputin figure, did not appeal his two-year sentence.
The victim's ordeal
Gilles Artigues, the blackmailed deputy, lived under constant threat that the video would be shown to his wife and four children. His wife, Mireille Artigues, told the court that the family sank into "a dark trap" and "a contagious depression." Artigues was forced to drop his candidacy for the National Assembly and his post as first deputy,
paralyzed by shame and fear that the video would be seen by his wife and children.
The defense strategy
During the hearing, Perdriau's lawyers tried to shift all responsibility onto his former chief of staff, Pierre Gauttieri. They argued that Gauttieri, who stayed silent throughout the proceedings, was the real architect. But the prosecutor general, Olivier Nagabbo, dismissed that line and directly addressed the former mayor:
What have you done with your values, your honour, your voters?
Verdict in September
The appeals court will deliver its ruling on 10 September. Gaël Perdriau, who was forced to resign as mayor after his initial incarceration, has already spent two months behind bars under the provisional execution of his first-instance sentence. If the court confirms a firm prison term, he risks returning to prison in the autumn.
