{"id":112944,"date":"2026-01-28T03:26:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T03:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=112944"},"modified":"2026-01-28T03:26:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T03:26:00","slug":"former-french-senator-found-guilty-of-drugging-mp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=112944","title":{"rendered":"Former French senator found guilty of drugging MP"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 49 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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A former French senator has been found guilty of spiking an MP\u2019s drink with ecstasy in order to sexually assault her.<\/p>\n

Joel Guerriau received a four-year prison sentence \u2013 18 months of which are to be served behind bars \u2013 and, according to local media, was ordered to pay Sandrine Josso \u20ac5,000 (\u00a34,348) in damages for emotional distress.<\/p>\n

Guerriau, now 68, had invited Josso, 50, to his Paris flat in November 2023. He later admitted serving her a drink spiked with MDMA, but maintained it was an accident and denied having any intention of assaulting her.<\/p>\n

Shortly after the verdict on Tuesday, Josso said it was a \u201chuge relief\u201d, AFP reports. Meanwhile, Guerriau\u2019s lawyers said he would appeal.<\/p>\n

According to court documents quoted by French media, Josso said she had gone to Guerrieau\u2019s home three years ago to celebrate his re-election when she started feeling unwell after drinking from a champagne glass.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had gone to visit a friend, and I discovered an aggressor,\u201d she said on Monday while giving evidence in the trial.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe looked at me insistently. I\u2019d never seen him that way. I didn\u2019t want to show him my weakness, because I was worried that if I told him I wasn\u2019t feeling well, he would\u2019ve forced me to lie down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josso recalled managing to leave the flat and, with the help of a colleague, went to the hospital, where a toxicology report confirmed her blood had three times the recreational dose of MDMA.<\/p>\n

Guerriau told the court he had been going through a period of depression, and had meant to take the drug himself the night before. He did not end up doing so and accidentally offered the glass containing MDMA to Josso the following evening, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel sorry for Sandrine,\u201d Guerriau told the court in Paris. \u201cI am disgusted with myself, with my recklessness and my stupidity.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWe don\u2019t talk about the effects of these drugs enough\u2026 All I want is to speak out on the dangers of these products.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sandrine Josso remains an MP for the centre-right MoDem party<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Asked about the several internet searches he made around ecstasy and the drug GHB, he said he had no recollection.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was on the train, thoughts and ideas just come to you,\u201d he told the court, adding government members needed to show an interest in \u201call current events\u201d.<\/p>\n

Guerriau, a centre-right senator from the Horizons party, was suspended when the charges against him came to light. He resigned as a senator last October.<\/p>\n

Josso, who is still an MP for the centre-right MoDem, has become a staunch campaigner against so-called chemical submission \u2013 drug-facilitated sexual assault.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I went through is still very painful,\u201d Josso said, speaking to French media ahead of the trial beginning.<\/p>\n

\u201cPsychological trauma feels like being frozen in time\u2026 I jump at the slightest thing. I\u2019ve become very vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josso has gone on to join an association against chemical submission, set up by Caroline Darian \u2013 the daughter of Dominique Pelicot, who in 2024 was found guilty of drugging his wife Gisele and inviting men to rape her in their home for over a decade.<\/p>\n

Josso was often in court during the Pelicot trial. This week, Darian and her brother David attended the proceedings in the Guerriau case.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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