French senator accused of spiking MP’s drink charged
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Senator Joel Guerriau is said to have drugged a Lower House MP with the intent of assaulting her.
PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
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PARIS – A French senator was charged on Nov 17 on suspicion of drugging a Lower House MP with a view to assaulting her, his lawyer said, in a case that has rocked France’s Parliament.
Joel Guerriau, a centrist senator from western France, was arrested on Nov 16 after the alleged attempted assault against MP Sandrine Josso, a source familiar with the case told AFP.
Ms Josso felt ill after accepting a drink on the night of Nov 14 at the 66-year-old senator’s Paris home.
A Paris investigator charged Guerriau with “administering without Sandrine Josso’s knowledge a substance likely to alter her judgment or self-control, to commit a rape or sexual assault”, his lawyer Remi-Pierre Drai said.
Guerriau was also indicted for “possession and use of substances classed as drugs” and placed under judicial supervision, the lawyer added.
The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed the charges and told AFP that the senator was banned from visiting the home of the alleged victim and from contacting her or witnesses.
Tests revealed that Ms Josso had Ecstasy in her system, investigators said, prompting her to file the criminal complaint.
Guerriau was arrested and held in custody under caught-in-the-act rules allowing police to override parliamentary immunity, prosecutors said.
Broadcaster RMC, which first reported the story, said police had searched his office and home, where prosecutors confirmed they found Ecstasy.
The accused senator and alleged victim faced each other on Nov 17 during two hours of joint questioning by investigators, a common practice in France that is known as a confrontation.
Ms Josso, an MP for the centrist MoDem party, “is still in a state of shock”, her lawyer Julia Minkowski told AFP. She said Ms Josso felt unwell after drinking a glass of champagne and had seen the senator “grabbing a small plastic bag containing something white, in a drawer in his kitchen”.
“She had to deploy monumental physical and intellectual forces to overcome her terror and extricate herself at the last minute from this ambush. Added to this is a feeling of betrayal and total incomprehension – Joel Guerriau had been a friend for around 10 years in whom she had complete confidence,” the lawyer said.
The Senate is the Upper House of the French Parliament.
PHOTO: AFP
Guerriau “will fight to prove he never intended to administer a substance to his colleague and longstanding friend to abuse her”, Mr Drai said. “Guerriau is not a predator... He is an honest man, respected and respectable, who will restore his and his family’s honour.”
Originally a banker, Guerriau has been a member of the Senate since 2011 and is deputy head of its foreign and military affairs committee.
Environment Minister Christophe Bechu, a leading figure in the Horizons party of which Guerriau is a member, on Friday told broadcaster France Inter that “of course, he (Guerriau) won’t be able to stay if there is the slightest doubt”.
Party chiefs would hold a meeting early on Saturday “where we’ll have the opportunity to discuss this situation”, he said.
Guerriau “will have to face the consequences if the least of this is true”, Mr Bechu added.
MP Sandrine Josso felt ill after accepting a drink at the 66-year-old senator’s Paris home, and was found to have ecstasy in her system.
PHOTO: AFP
Horizons is led by former prime minister Edouard Philippe, now mayor of northern city Le Havre and one of France’s most popular politicians since leaving office.
Like MoDem, the party is allied with – but not part of – the ruling Renaissance party of President Emmanuel Macron.
Mr Philippe is widely tipped to run in 2027 to succeed Mr Macron, who will be unable to stand for a third time due to term limits.
The former prime minister joined Guerriau on the campaign trail for senatorial elections earlier in 2023. AFP
