A former French senator was convicted and sentenced Tuesday to 1 1/2 years in jail for drugging a fellow lawmaker to be able to abuse her, an expertise she described as terrifying and leaving long-lasting trauma results.
Joël Guerriau, 68, has admitted serving Sandrine Josso a drink spiked with MDMA, often called ecstasy, however says it was an accident.
A Paris courtroom discovered him responsible of getting drugged Josso to sexually assault or rape her and of possession of drug. He was given an extra 2 1/2 12 months suspended sentence, obligation of therapy and a ban on holding elected workplace.
Shortly after the decision on Tuesday, Josso mentioned the sentence was a “enormous reduction,” BBC News reported.
Guerriau’s lawyer mentioned his shopper would attraction the ruling.
The trial introduced nationwide consideration to drug-facilitated assault within the nation already marked by the landmark drugging-and-rape case that turned Gisèle Pelicot into a global icon of the struggle in opposition to sexual violence.
Josso, a 50-year-old lawmaker on the Nationwide Meeting, mentioned that the then-senator invited her to his Paris house to have a good time his reelection in November 2023. The 2 had identified one another for years and had been on pleasant phrases.
“I actually felt myself slipping away,” Josso testified Monday, saying she skilled coronary heart palpitations shortly after taking a couple of sips of champagne. She mentioned she felt uneasy being alone with Guerriau, who appeared unusually agitated and repeatedly turned lights on and off.
Josso mentioned Guerriau later took her glass into the kitchen to refill it. That is when she observed him holding “a little bit bag,” which made her understand she had probably been drugged.
“My legs had been shaking, I used to be extraordinarily thirsty,” she recalled, her voice breaking.
Stephanie Lecocq / REUTERS 
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