Paris (AFP)
Russian artist Piotr Pavlenski and his partner were placed in police custody in the investigation into the intimate videos that prompted Benjamin Griveaux to withdraw his candidacy for mayor of Paris, we learned on Sunday from the Paris prosecutor's office .
Both are in police custody for "invasion of privacy" and "dissemination without the consent of the person of sexual images", in the context of the investigation opened on Saturday following the filing of a complaint against X by M. Griveaux.
Piotr Pavlenski, 35, was taken into police custody on Saturday afternoon in another case relating to violence committed on the evening of December 31. She was suspended on Sunday and a second police custody started to question her about the Griveaux case. The total duration of such custody may not exceed 48 hours, that is, until Monday afternoon.
His partner, Alexandra de Taddeo, 29, has been in police custody since Saturday evening in the Griveaux case. According to a source familiar with the matter, she was the recipient of the videos at the outset.
A political refugee in France since 2017, Mr. Pavlenski said on Friday that he was behind the publication of said videos, saying he wanted to denounce the "hypocrisy" of Benjamin Griveaux.
The latter "used his family by presenting himself as an icon for all the fathers and husbands of Paris. He propagated traditional family values," said Pavlenski.
This justification is "grotesque", answered Saturday evening Mr. Griveaux's lawyer, Me Richard Malka. "I have rarely seen a more cynical personality. We are in an absolute sham, with pseudo artists who consider that they are in a dictatorship and give moral lessons," he said on LCI.
He also expressed doubts that Mr. Pavlenski was solely responsible for the dissemination of the videos. "Clearly, I do not believe at all that he acted alone," he continued, without advancing further and referring to the investigation opened by the prosecution.
The Russian artist, convicted in 2019 for having burned down a branch of the Banque de France in Paris in October 2017 during an "artistic performance", is also accused of having participated in a brawl in the evening of December 31 in an apartment in Paris. According to an AFP participant's story, an argument broke out between several people and Piotr Pavlenski, who seized a knife in the kitchen.
Two of the guests were injured with this knife, reported the French news site Médiapart, which had revealed the existence of this investigation.
The lawyer and essayist Juan Branco, who says he "advised" Mr. Pavlenski on the videos behind Mr. Griveaux's withdrawal, was also present at this New Years Eve party.
Benjamin Griveaux's withdrawal caused a political shock wave and forced the presidential party to find him, as a matter of urgency, a successor to run for mayor of Paris at the municipal elections in March.
© 2020 AFP