The senator Les Indépendants (center-right) from Loire-Atlantique, Joël Guerriau, was placed in police custody. He is accused of drugging a deputy in preparation for a sexual assault. But what are the facts? What does his lawyer say? What are the political reactions? What is the Twitter penis affair? 20 minutes takes stock for you.
What happened ?
Joël Guerriau was placed in police custody for “administering to a person, without their knowledge, a substance likely to impair their discernment or control of their actions to commit rape or sexual assault”, facts which would have took place during the night of Tuesday to Wednesday. An offense punishable by a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros.
The victim would have felt ill after having a drink on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday at the Parisian home of the 66-year-old senator, with whom she does not have an intimate relationship, the public prosecutor confirmed on Thursday. Samples from her body revealed the presence of ecstasy, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office, and the woman subsequently filed a complaint.
“A priori the first elements at my disposal would tend to establish that it was ecstasy,” declared Friday early morning on RTL the Paris public prosecutor, Laure Beccuau. Joël Guerriau was still in police custody at the time. “His custody will end today,” added the magistrate. The open investigation means that there is no need to ask the Office to lift the senator’s parliamentary immunity. According to our colleagues from Parisian, investigators discovered a sachet of ecstasy at the elected official’s home during a search.
What does his lawyer say?
“We are very far from the scabrous interpretation that can be deduced from reading the first press articles,” said Mr. Rémi-Pierre Drai, his lawyer, on Thursday evening. “Basically, I will not give any information not only because I am bound by the secrecy of the investigation, but above all out of respect for my client and for the complainant whose name I am surprised that unlike the one of my client,” he added.
What are the political reactions?
Asked by AFP, neither the presidency of the Senate nor the parliamentary group Les Indépendants, where Joël Guerriau sits, wished to react to this information immediately. But he “cannot stay within the” Horizons party “if there is the slightest doubt,” said Minister Christophe Béchu, secretary general of Edouard Philippe’s party, on Friday.
Who is Joël Guerriau?
” Tomorrow [samedi] morning at 9 o’clock, we will have a political office. We will have the opportunity to discuss this situation,” explained the Minister of Ecological Transition on France Inter. “He obviously cannot stay within the party if there is the slightest doubt about the veracity of all this,” he added. “If the slightest of these elements is true, he will obviously have to draw the consequences. Justice must be as clear as possible,” he also analyzed.
Professional banking executive, elected to the High Assembly since 2011, Joël Guerriau is 66 years old. He is Secretary of the Senate and Vice Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces.
This former mayor of the town of Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire between 1995 and 2017 was re-elected senator of Loire-Atlantique at the end of September under the Horizons label. He notably received the former Prime Minister and President of Horizons Edouard Philippe in his department during his senatorial campaign.
What is the Twitter penis affair?
In December 2016, Joël Guerriau had already made headlines. At the time, Senator UDI sent a tweet which said: “A crucial question asked by Bruno Retailleau, how to implement peaceful governance after Daesch? » But, attached to this serious question, was a photograph of a penis, in very close-up. The post, which remained online for a few minutes, caused laughter on Twitter and many Internet users took screen captures.
Immediately, Joël Guerriau denounced piracy and announced that he would file a complaint against of those around him.” The elected official then gave the file to two lawyers: Me Henri Carpentier and Me Jérôme Maudet. But this story never had any follow-up in the legal mysteries and the complaint was never filed, the senator considering that “the matter had been resolved internally”.