An artist sentenced for faking his candidacy for the Festival of Lights in Lyon

Director of sound and light shows, Damien Fontaine was sentenced Thursday to six months in prison for having benefited from privileged information during his candidacy for the 2018 edition of the Lyon Festival of Lights. The Lyon criminal court found him guilty of concealment of favoritism and also sentenced him to a fine of 2,000 euros and three years of ineligibility. Its producer at the time, Sébastien Salvagnac, was sentenced to the same sentence.

In 2018, the 50-year-old artist obtained the prize for the illumination of the Fourvière hill, the main attraction of the public market of the famous event, for an amount of 166,000 euros. According to the prosecution, he had modified his offer in the middle of the consultation procedure, benefiting from confidential information from Jean-François Zurawik, at the time director of the Festival of Lights. The latter ended his life during the investigation.

“I knew we didn’t have the right, but I had no choice”

Damien Fontaine “benefited from an unjustified advantage and personalized support”the prosecutor estimated at the hearing on December 12, requesting a six-month suspended prison sentence. “We had no indication that it came from another file and that it could favor us”the artist defended himself, denying the offense. “I knew we didn’t have the right, but I had no choice”for his part argued his former producer, ensuring that the Festival of Lights market was then known for its opacity. His lawyer pleaded for acquittal, believing that the city bore responsibility for the poor supervision of the market.

The affair arose after the complaint of Milosh Luczynski, an artist excluded from the market, who felt that he had seen his project copied by his competitor, who had gone so far as to take over the title “Reflections”. ” Finally ! The truth has been told. Justice was able to put everyone in their place”commented the artist, who obtained 5,000 euros in damages for moral harm.