Lyon (AFP) — The mayor of the French city of Saint-Etienne went on trial Monday, accused of ordering a video to be made of his deputy with a male prostitute.

Gael Perdriau, who denies blackmail charges, sat through a closed hearing near Gilles Artigues, his former number two, when what has become known as “the Sex-Tape of Saint-Etienne” was shown.

Artigues, a Roman Catholic who had spoken against gay marriage, was secretly filmed in a Paris hotel with a male prostitute.

Perdriau and three of his staff and deputies face charges of blackmail, criminal conspiracy and diverting public funds.

Another of the mayor’s former deputies, Samy Kefi-Jerome, admitted to the court that he hid the camera in the hotel room.

He said it was ordered by Pierre Gauttieri, who was then the mayor’s chief of

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