Former French senator found guilty of attacking lawmaker

A former French senator was convicted and sentenced Tuesday to a year and a half in prison for drugging a fellow lawmaker to abuse her, an experience she described as terrifying and leaving lasting traumatic effects.

Joël Guerriau, 68, admitted serving Sandrine Josso a drink laced with MDMA, known as ecstasy, but says it was an accident.

A Paris court found him guilty of drugging Josso to sexually assault or rape her and of drug possession. He was given an additional two-and-a-half-year suspended sentence, the obligation to receive treatment and a ban on holding elective office.

Shortly after Tuesday’s verdict, Josso said the sentence was a “huge relief,” BBC News reported.

Guerriau’s lawyer said his client would appeal the ruling.

The trial brought national attention to drug-facilitated assaults in a country already scarred by the historic drug and rape case that turned Gisèle Pelicot into a global icon of the fight against sexual violence.

Josso, a 50-year-old lawmaker in the National Assembly, said the then-senator invited her to his Paris apartment to celebrate his reelection in November 2023. The two had known each other for years and had a friendly relationship.

“I really felt like I was slipping away,” Josso testified Monday, saying he experienced heart palpitations shortly after taking a few sips of champagne. She said she felt uncomfortable being alone with Guerriau, who seemed unusually agitated and turned the lights on and off repeatedly.

Josso said Guerriau then took his glass to the kitchen to refill it. That’s when she noticed he was holding “a little bag,” which made her realize she had probably been drugged.

“My legs were shaking, I was very thirsty,” he recalls with a broken voice.

Josso said he tried to hide his symptoms for fear of alerting Guerriau. He finally managed to get out and take a taxi.

“I think about my children, I call my colleague and tell him I’m going to die,” she told the court, crying.

Blood tests later showed that he had ingested an amount of MDMA far above the levels typically associated with recreational use.

“I want the truth to come out. It’s important to me,” he said.

Josso described long-lasting trauma, including sleep disorders, difficulty eating, panic attacks on trains and stairs, and intense stress that caused her to grind her teeth so hard that several had to be extracted.

“I’m disgusted with myself”

For hours on Monday, Guerriau answered court questions that often sounded vague and confusing, saying he was suffering from depression at the time and still lacked a clear memory of the events.

Guerriau resigned as senator in October, presenting the measure as a political decision with no link to the judicial process.

He acknowledged what he called his “stupidity” and “ignorance” about drugs. Guerriau said another senator had given him MDMA powder months earlier, which he said he never used.

Guerriau told the court he intended to take the medication himself the night before, BBC News reported. In the end he didn’t and accidentally offered the glass containing MDMA to Josso the next night, he claimed.

“I feel sorry for Sandrine,” Guerriau told the Paris court. “I am disgusted with myself, with my recklessness and my stupidity.”

Investigators said Guerriau had searched online about drug use, including ecstasy, in connection with the rape about a month before the incident. Guerriau said the investigation was part of his job as a senator and aimed to better understand the issue.

When asked about Internet searches, he said members of the government should show interest in “all current events,” the BBC reported.