Monday August 29, eight years after the events, the victim, who has remained silent for eight years, decided to file a complaint for “aggravated blackmail, ambush in an organized gang, embezzlement of public funds and non-denunciation of criminal acts “.

Asked about the belated nature of his client’s complaint, Me André Buffard told AFP that“At the start Gilles Artigues was not aware of what had really happened in this hotel room”, having in particular the feeling of having been drugged. Then he gave in to blackmail “for the sake of preserving his family and loved ones”. Reached by TF1info this Monday, August 29, the lawyer had not called us back in the evening.

“The Saint-Etienne public prosecutor’s office received today, August 29, 2022, a complaint from Mr. Gilles Artigues filed by his counsel, Maître André Buffard. This complaint, announced in the article published by Mediapart on August 26, specifically targets several elected officials and in particular Mr. Gaël Perdriau, mayor and president of the Metropolis”confirmed Monday to TF1info the public prosecutor of Saint-Etienne, David Charmatz.

The magistrate adds that “in accordance with the provisions of article 43 paragraph 2 of the code of criminal procedure, and in the interest of the proper administration of justice, the public prosecutor’s office of St-Etienne sent a request for expatriation to the Attorney General at the Court of Appeal of Lyon for the purpose of transmission of the procedure for jurisdiction to the public prosecutor at the judicial court of Lyon.”