Suspected of having drugged a deputy, the senator suspended by Horizons and his group

2023-11-18 15:38:32

The Horizons Political Bureau decided this Saturday to “immediately” suspend Senator Joël Guerriau, suspected of having unwittingly drugged a member of parliament with a view to sexually assaulting her, AFP learned from the party.

“Deeply shocked by the facts at the origin of the accusations”, the members of this Office decided “unanimously” to “immediately” suspend the senator, before initiating “a disciplinary procedure which could lead to definitive exclusion” , said the party of Edouard Philippe, who will call the complainant Sandrine Josso (MoDem), according to a source at Horizons. “If proven, the facts mentioned are very serious (…) Horizons will never tolerate the slightest complacency with regard to sexual and gender-based violence,” the party wrote in a press release.

A few hours later, Joël Guerriau was suspended by his parliamentary group. “Immediately, the Independents group in the Senate, which met today (Saturday), decided, in accordance with its statutes, the suspension of Senator Guerriau (…) and the initiation of a disciplinary procedure which could lead to exclusion,” he said.

Ecstasy at home

Joël Guerriau was indicted and placed under judicial supervision on Friday evening. The complainant would have felt ill after having a drink on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday at the Parisian home of the senator, aged 66, with whom she did not have an intimate relationship, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office.

Samples from Sandrine Josso’s body revealed the presence of ecstasy and searches were carried out at the senator’s office and at his home, where investigators found ecstasy, according to the prosecution. According to Sandrine Josso’s lawyer, Julia Minkowski, the MP was “seized after drinking a glass of champagne”, then saw the senator “grabbing a small plastic bag containing something white”, and was able to “extricate himself at the last minute from this ambush”

A “handling error”, according to his lawyer

Joël Guerriau denied the accusations during a confrontation. He will “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 the dramatic inconvenience,” his lawyer, Me Rémi-Pierre Drai, told AFP.

According to sources close to the case, Joël Guerriau said he believed he had obtained, from a member of the Senate, a euphoric and not ecstasy, for his own consumption in order to cope with what he described. like personal trials. A banker by profession, elected to the upper house since 2011, Joël Guerriau is secretary of the Senate and vice-president of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces.