A former French senator has been convicted of drugging a member of parliament with ecstasy, with the intent of sexually assaulting her.
Joel Guerriau received a four-year prison sentence, with 18 months to be served, and was ordered to pay Sandrine Josso €5,000 (£4,348) in damages for emotional distress, according to local reports.
Guerriau, 68, had invited Josso, 50, to his Paris apartment in November 2023. He admitted to serving her a drink laced with MDMA but claimed it was accidental and denied any intention of assault.
Following Tuesday’s verdict, Josso described it as a “huge relief,” AFP reported. Guerriau’s legal team has indicated he will appeal the decision.
According to court documents cited by French media, Josso testified that she visited Guerrieau’s home three years prior to celebrate his re-election when she began feeling unwell after consuming champagne.
“I visited a friend and discovered an aggressor,” she stated while giving evidence during the trial on Monday.
“He looked at me insistently, a way I had never seen before. I didn’t want to show weakness, fearing he would force me to lie down if I admitted to feeling unwell.”
Josso recounted managing to leave the apartment and, with a colleague’s assistance, going to the hospital, where a toxicology report confirmed her blood contained three times the recreational dose of MDMA.
Guerriau told the court he had been experiencing depression and intended to take the drug himself the previous night. He claimed he did not and inadvertently offered the glass containing MDMA to Josso the following evening.
“I feel sorry for Sandrine,” Guerriau stated in court. “I am disgusted with myself, with my recklessness and my stupidity.”
He further added: “We don’t talk about the effects of these drugs enough… All I want is to speak out on the dangers of these products.”
When questioned about internet searches related to ecstasy and GHB, he claimed to have no recollection.
“I was on the train; thoughts and ideas come to you,” he told the court, adding that government members should show interest in “all current events.”
Guerriau, a center-right senator from the Horizons party, was suspended upon the charges being revealed. He resigned from his Senate seat last October.
Josso, still a member of parliament for the center-right MoDem party, has become a prominent advocate against drug-facilitated sexual assault, also known as chemical submission.
“What I went through is still very painful,” Josso told French media ahead of the trial.
“Psychological trauma feels like being frozen in time… I jump at the slightest thing. I’ve become very vulnerable.”
Josso has since joined an association against chemical submission, established by Caroline Darian, daughter of Dominique Pelicot, who was convicted in 2024 of drugging his wife, Gisele, and inviting men to rape her in their home for over a decade.
Josso frequently attended the Pelicot trial, while Darian and her brother, David, were present at the Guerriau case proceedings this week.