The Paris prosecutor’s workplace says a French senator has been handed preliminary expenses for drugging one other lawmaker with the intention of rape or sexual assault
ByThe Related Press
November 18, 2023, 5:29 AM
FILE – This Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014 file photograph reveals a basic view of France’s Senate previous to a vote on the popularity of a Palestinian state, Paris. The Paris prosecutor’s workplace says a French senator has been handed preliminary expenses for drugging one other lawmaker with the intention of rape or sexual assault. His center-right occasion has suspended him pending additional investigation. Joel Guerriau is a 66-year-old representing the Loire-Atlantique area in western France. He was detained for 48 hours and given preliminary expenses on Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. (AP Photograph/Francois Mori, File)
The Related Press
PARIS — A French senator has been handed preliminary expenses for drugging one other lawmaker with the intention of rape or sexual assault, in line with the Paris prosecutor’s workplace, and has been suspended from his occasion.
Joel Guerriau, a 66-year-old representing the Loire-Atlantique area in western France, was detained for 48 hours and given preliminary expenses Friday, the prosecutor’s workplace stated in an announcement.
He’s suspected of placing ecstasy in a glass of Champagne he served parliament member Sandrine Josso, who left after she began feeling sick, in line with French media experiences. The incident occurred Tuesday night within the senator’s house.
His lawyer stated Guerriau didn’t intend to drug Josso to abuse her and has apologized to her. In an announcement, lawyer Remi-Pierre Drai stated ‘’it was a dealing with error’’ that triggered the lawmaker to fall unwell. He didn’t elaborate.
‘’Joel Guerriau isn’t a predator,’’ the lawyer stated. “He’s an trustworthy, revered and respectable man who will restore his honor and that of his household nevertheless lengthy it takes.’’
Guerriau was given preliminary expenses of use and possession of medication, and of secretly administering a discernment-altering substance to commit a rape or sexual assault. He was launched below judicial supervision and barred from contact with the sufferer and witnesses whereas the investigation continues.
Preliminary expenses below French legislation imply investigating magistrates have sturdy motive to suspect wrongdoing however enable extra time earlier than figuring out whether or not to ship a case to trial.
After the costs had been introduced, the center-right Horizons political group on Saturday introduced his suspension, saying that it ‘’won’t ever tolerate the slightest complacency towards sexual and sexist violence.” Horizons is allied in parliament with President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance occasion.
Josso, a member of the decrease home of parliament representing the Loire-Atlantique area with the centrist Modem occasion, has not spoken publicly concerning the investigation.
