Edouard Philippe does not want to be judge. But, Tuesday, November 21, since the congress of mayors where he held a signing session for his latest book, Places that say (published by JC Lattès, 320 p., 21.90 euros), the former prime minister assumes having decided, without qualms, the fate of Loire-Atlantique senator Joël Guerriau.
Three days earlier, the political office of his party, Horizons, decided to suspend the elected official with a view to his exclusion, the day after the announcement of his indictment for “administration without the knowledge of Sandrine Josso [députée (MoDem) de Loire-Atlantique]of a substance likely to impair one’s discernment or control of one’s actions, in order to commit rape or sexual assault. And “possession and use of substances classified as narcotics”namely MDMA or ecstasy.
“We have no kind of acceptance of facts of this nature”, scolds the mayor of Le Havre (Seine-Maritime). Even if he says “understand that there is the presumption of innocence”Edouard Philippe judge “essential that political parties know how to react quickly when one of their own is guilty.”
A sanction “quick and unanimous”without ” no hesitation or discordant voice,” emphasizes to the World, Christophe Béchu, Minister of Ecological Transition and Secretary General of Horizons. Faced with the first scandal of this type affecting his party, Edouard Philippe wanted an attitude “exemplary”according to those around him.
Monday, on France 5, Sandrine Josso confided that she “thought I would die because[elle] thought he [Joël Guerriau] was going to abuse[elle] “. The next day, the elected official explained on BFM-TV that she had found the senator’s behavior ” weird “during the evening they had spent together, on November 14. “He said to me “but you don’t drink anything!” “, she said, explaining that she fled by taxi when she felt his heart rate accelerate, after drinking the glass of champagne he had served her.
Celerity to be condemned
Joël Guerriau admits to having had at his home what he took for “euphoric” what would have happened to him “a senator”, but denies having wanted to attack the MP, assured her lawyer, Remi-Pierre Drai, on BFM-TV on Saturday. According to the latter, the 66-year-old elected official wanted to take a pick-me-up because he was “proven » by the senatorial campaign and by the imminent death of his “old cat”. And it would be by ” accident “, he continued, that the glass which was intended for his client was drunk by the deputy. Mr. Guerriau, who mentioned a ” manipulation error “East “annihilated” by the“relentlessness” to which it is subject, indicates to the World his lawyer.
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