Jan. 28 (UPI) — A French court sentenced former Sen. Joel Guerriau to four years in prison after finding him guilty of drugging a minister of the French parliament in November 2023.
Guerrieau, 68, will spend 18 months of his 48-month prison sentence behind bars, but he has appealed the decision and would not be imprisoned if the appellate court overturns his conviction.
The court also ordered him to pay MP Sandrine Josso, 50, the equivalent of $5,975 in the Tuesday ruling.
Guerriau formerly represented the Loire-Atlantique region in western France and was found guilty of spiking a drink with ecstasy and serving it to Josso in November 2023.
Prosecutors accused him of inviting Josso to his flat in Paris and drugging her with the intent of sexually assaulting her, but reports do not indicate whether a sexual assault is alleged in the matter.
Guerriau admitted he spiked her drink but said it was an accident and that he did not intend to commit sexual assault.
Following Tuesday’s verdict, Josso told media that she “had gone to visit a friend” on the night that she was drugged.
Instead of visiting a friend, she said, “I discovered an aggressor,” adding that “he looked at me insistently” and that she never had seen him like that.
“I didn’t want to show him my weakness because I was worried that if I told him I wasn’t feeling well, he would have forced me to lie down,” Josso said.
She left Guerriau’s flat and, with the help of a friend, went to a hospital, which determined her blood contained three times the normal dosage of a recreational MDMA.
Guerriau claimed he had been depressed and was using MDMA to treat it and meant to consume the spiked drink himself.
Instead of drinking it, he told the court that he accidentally served it to Josso, adding that he feels sorry for her.
“I am disgusted with myself, with my recklessness and my stupidity,” Guerriau told the court.
He said not enough is done to discuss “the effects of these drugs enough,” adding that he wants to “speak out on the dangers of these products.”
Guerriau was a member of France’s center-right Horizons Party and was suspended after being charged. He resigned is Senate seat in October.
Josso is a member of France’s center-right MoDem Party and has become a vocal opponent of “chemical submission” after her encounter with Guerriau.