French senator detained on allegations of giving MP drugs to sexually assault her

A French senator was arrested for allegedly giving drugs to a member of parliament in order to sexually assault her, according to reports.

Joël Guerriau was held at his home in Paris after a parliament member had a drink with him on Tuesday night and then said they felt sick.

She was brought to the hospital where tests showed that she had taken the drug ecstasy.

After the tests, the woman reported a crime to the police.

Mr Guerriau is one of 18 people who are not part of any specific political party in the French upper house. He is a member of the centrist Horizons party.

The prosecutors did not say that the woman is an MP, but some news sources said that she is a member of the Chamber of Deputies.

The senator has not been accused of anything and his lawyer, Rémi-Pierre Drai, said that the initial reports in the press are wrong and give a bad impression.

The lawyer was very angry that some of the investigation details were shared with the media. He said that either the prosecutors were responsible for this or they had nothing to do with it and should find out who did it.

“I was surprised that the [complainant’s] name was not made public, but my client’s name was,” he said.

Mr Guerriau is a 66-year-oldman who used to work in a bank. He was chosen to be in the Senate in 2011 and is now the vice-president of the committee that deals with foreign and military matters. He became the mayor of a small area in western France when he was in his 30s.

The police in Paris arrested him because they think he gave someone a drug to make them unable to think clearly or control themselves,so he could rape or assault them.

The senator can’tuse parliamentary immunity because he was caught breaking the law.

The prosecutor said that anyone who is proven to have committed this crime could go to jail for up to five years and have to pay a fine of €75,000 (£65,000).

Christophe Béchu, who is a member of the same political party and the minister in charge of protecting the environment, said that the leaders of Horizons will have a meeting on Saturday to talk about his role. “He said that if there is any doubt about the truth of all this, he definitely won’t be able to stay at the party,” he told French radio.