Senator Joël Guerriau, suspected of drugging MP Sandrine Josso with the aim of sexually assaulting her, was questioned at length on Tuesday at the Paris court. This is the first time he has been heard on the substance of the case since his indictment on November 17, 2023.
The investigation revealed suspicious online searches on her mobile phone, made on October 9, just over a month before the events reported by the MP. These searches included terms such as “GHB point of sale” and “GHB effects after”, suggesting an interest in this drug, often associated with acts of chemical submission.
Towards a return to the Senate?
These discoveries contrast with the senator’s previous statements and increase suspicions against him. “Joël Guerriau only reserves his explanations for the courts,” his lawyers Henri Carpentier and Marie Roumiantseva told AFP, without confirming the content of his questioning before the investigating judge.
Joël Guerriau, 66, former mayor of Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire (Loire-Atlantique), has been placed under judicial supervision and suspended from his Horizons party and his parliamentary group in the Senate. Joël Guerriau hoped to be able to return to the upper house and was due to meet the president of this institution, Gérard Larcher, on Wednesday afternoon.
However, the latter firmly opposed this, having asked the senator to resign from his mandate, a request that has remained unanswered for the moment. Guerriau, however, indicated that he would no longer sit “until further notice”, without however making his resignation official.