Jean-Pierre Berger succeeds Gaël Perdriau as city corridor of Saint-Etienne | EUROtoday

Jean-Pierre Berger, till now first deputy in Saint-Etienne, was elected mayor on Thursday, December 11, to switch Gaël Perdriau, sentenced to 4 years in jail and ineligibility within the intimate video blackmail affair.

The new mayor, numerous right-wing, was appointed throughout a unprecedented municipal council with 31 of the 43 votes solid. Aged 83, he who desires to make sure “the continuity of the mandate plan” will lead the town till the March elections.

Also a candidate for mayor, as a result of “we cannot support those who led the Stéphanois into difficulty”Nicole Peycelon (LR) gathered 12 votes on her identify, whereas the left opposition didn’t current a candidate.

Jean-Pierre Berger, who spent his total profession at Casino, was Gaël Perdriau’s deputy since his election in 2014. In May 2022, he changed centrist elected official Gilles Artigues as first deputy. Just a few months later, Mediapart revealed that the latter had been filmed with out his information within the firm of a prostitute, then pressured to mute his ambitions and his disagreements with the mayor.

“Fully guilty”

Gaël Perdriau, 53, has at all times denied having participated on this entice, which a number of members of his entourage, together with his chief of employees, admitted to having orchestrated. Claiming his innocence, he refused to go away city corridor, regardless of his exclusion from the Les Républicains occasion, and his referral to justice.

His denials didn’t persuade the Lyon felony courtroom which, on 1^er December, declared “entirely guilty” and sentenced him to 4 years in jail and 5 years of ineligibility, with instant impact for each sentences. Gaël Perdriau, who appealed, is summoned subsequent Tuesday to seek out out when and the place he can be incarcerated. Two of his legal professionals, M^e Paul Mallet and Benoît Martinez, introduced that they might “a request for release on the day of his incarceration, because none of the criteria that could justify his continued detention apply”.