Joël Guerriau, a French senator from the centrist Horizon party, was detained by police in Paris on suspicion of drugging a female MP with the intention of assaulting her, the prosecutor’s office reported on Friday – Politico.
The Paris public prosecutor’s office confirmed that Guerriau was arrested on Wednesday night after an unnamed person filed a complaint against him for “administering to a person, without their knowledge, a substance which may alter their judgement or control over their actions in order to commit rape or sexual assault.”
A French senator is suspected of “administering ecstasy to a [female] guest, without her knowledge.” The drug was found in his home during a police raid, prosecutors reported. He now faces up to five years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros.
According to an official of the French Senate, the female guest is a sitting member of parliament, as confirmed by numerous French media reports.
Guerriau’s lawyer, Rémi-Pierre Drai, told French news agency Agence France-Presse that he would not provide any information on the “substance” of the case “out of respect for my client and the complainant.”
We’re very far from the scabrous interpretation that can be deduced from reading the first press articles.
66-year-old Guerriau is a senator from the western Loire-Atlantique constituency, where he was first elected in 2011. In 2016, he filed a complaint after an indecent photograph was posted on his Twitter account. He then claimed his account had been hacked.
He is a member of the Horizons party, created by former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe and belonging to President Emmanuel Macron’s parliamentary coalition.
French Environment Minister Christophe Béchu, secretary general of Horizons, expressed “consternation and dismay” on Friday.
Guerriau’s lawyer, Drai, was not available for comment.
