Loire-Atlantique senator Joël Guerriau (Les Indépendants, center right), suspected of having drugged a member of parliament with a view to sexual assault, was indicted on Friday, November 17 by a Parisian investigating judge and placed under surveillance judicial, announced his lawyer. Member of the Independents group in the Senate, Mr. Guerriau joined the Horizons party founded by former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe in 2022.
The senator was indicted for “administration without the knowledge of [MoDem deputy] Sandrine Josso of a substance likely to impair her discernment or control of her actions, in order to commit rape or sexual assault, and possession and use of substances classified as narcotics,” said Me Rémi-Pierre Drai in a press release sent to Agence France-Presse (AFP). The complainant reportedly felt ill after having a drink on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday at the Parisian home of the 66-year-old senator, with whom she did not have an intimate relationship, according to the public prosecutor.
Requested by AFP, the Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed this indictment which was decided after a two-hour confrontation between Mr. Guerriau and Ms. Josso, elected representative of Loire-Atlantique, in the premises of the 3rd district of the Paris judicial police. The prosecution specified that the judicial control imposed on the senator prohibited him “from going to the victim’s home” and “from entering into contact with the victims and witnesses”.
“Joël Guerriau is now free and will be able to explain the facts,” emphasized Me Drai in the press release following the senator’s indictment. He “will also fight to demonstrate that he never wanted to administer to his work colleague, and long-time friend, a substance to abuse her” and “will demonstrate that it was a handling error which caused caused the dramatic inconvenience suffered by her fellow MP,” added Me Drai.
“Joël Guerriau is not a predator, he is not a fan of chemical submission, he is an honest man, respected and respectable, who will restore his honor and that of his family,” concluded the lawyer.
Discomfort and ecstasy sachet
Contacted by AFP, the plaintiff’s lawyer, Me Julia Minkowski, announced that she would become a civil party on Monday. “Sandrine Josso is still in a state of shock,” the lawyer declared after the confrontation. “She had to deploy monumental physical and intellectual forces to overcome her terror and extricate herself from this ambush at the last minute. Added to this is a feeling of betrayal and total incomprehension. Joël Guerriau had been a friend for around ten years, in whom she had complete confidence,” Me Minkowski told AFP.
According to the lawyer, Sandrine Josso was “seized after drinking a glass of champagne”, then saw Joël Guerriau “grabbing a small plastic bag containing something white, in a drawer in his kitchen” . “She then understood that he was drugging her without her knowledge,” says Mr. Minkowski.
Samples from Ms. Josso’s body revealed the presence of ecstasy, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Thursday, confirming information from RMC. Searches were then carried out at the senator’s office as well as at his home, where investigators found ecstasy, according to the prosecution.
Me Rémi-Pierre Drai believes that “the confrontation allowed [his] client to forcefully confirm his version of the facts, which does not allow at this stage of the investigation to characterize any offense. The investigation will continue as it should.”
Flagrant investigation which exempts the lifting of parliamentary immunity
According to sources close to the matter, Mr. Guerriau said that he believed he had obtained, from a member of the Senate, a euphoric, and not ecstasy, for his own consumption, in order to facing what he described as personal trials.
The investigations are being carried out under the aegis of the Paris public prosecutor’s office, which has opened a flagrant investigation, a procedure which means that there is no need to request the lifting of parliamentary immunity.
A banker by profession, senator since 2011, Joël Guerriau is secretary of the Senate and vice-president of the committee on foreign affairs, defense and armed forces.
Friday morning, the Minister of Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, secretary general of the Horizons party, affirmed that the senator could not “remain within the party (…) if there [was] the slightest doubt”. Saturday morning at 9 a.m. a political office is to be held. “We will have the opportunity to discuss this situation,” added Mr. Béchu.