French ex-senator sentenced to prison for drugging fellow lawmaker in order to sexually abuse her

PARIS — A former French senator was sentenced Tuesday to 1 1/2 years in prison for drugging a fellow lawmaker in order to abuse her, an experience she described as terrifying and leaving long-lasting trauma effects.

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

A Paris court found him guilty of having drugged Josso to sexually assault or rape her and of possession of drug. He was given an additional 2 1/2 year suspended sentence, obligation of treatment and a ban on holding elected office.

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

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

Josso, a 50-year-old lawmaker at the National Assembly, said that 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 were on friendly terms.

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

Josso said Guerriau later took her glass into the kitchen to refill it. That's when she noticed him holding “a little bag,” which made her realize she had likely been drugged.

“My legs were shaking, I was extremely thirsty,” she recalled, her voice breaking.

Josso said she tried to hide her symptoms, afraid to alert Guerriau. She eventually managed to leave and take a taxi.

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

Blood tests later showed she had ingested a quantity of MDMA far higher than levels typically associated with recreational use.

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

Josso described lasting trauma, including sleep disorders, difficulty eating, panic attacks on trains and stairways and intense stress that caused her to grind her teeth so severely that several had to be removed.

Ex-senator says he's ‘devastated’

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

Guerriau resigned as senator in October, presenting the move as a political decision with no link to the legal proceedings.

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.

He said that on the evening before Josso visited, he put some of the drug into a glass he intended to use himself, but changed his mind and set it aside. The next day, he mistakenly used the same glass to serve champagne to Josso, he said.

“I don’t have the words. It’s very serious,” Guerriau told the court. “I’m devastated.”

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