Senator Joël Guerriau, suspected of having drugged a deputy without her knowledge and indicted on Friday, was suspended by the group Les Indépendants in the Senate, this parliamentary group announced in a press release sent to AFP on Saturday.
“Immediately, the Independents group in the Senate, which met today (Saturday), decided, in accordance with its statutes, the suspension of Senator Guerriau (…) and the initiation of a procedure disciplinary action which could lead to exclusion,” he said.
The senator suspended from the Horizons party
Joël Guerriau, who sits in the Les Indépendants – République et Territoires (Lirt) group in the Senate since its creation in 2017, was also suspended from his Horizons party on Saturday morning, following a Political Bureau of the movement led by the Former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe. The party will also initiate “a disciplinary procedure which could lead to definitive exclusion”, and has announced that Édouard Philippe will call the complainant Sandrine Josso (MoDem).
Contacted by AFP, the Senate presidency did not immediately react to these announcements. Joël Guerriau, 66, has been elected to the upper house since 2011. He sits on the Senate Bureau as Secretary and serves as vice-president of the Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces Committee.
Indicted
The group Les Indépendants, partly composed of senators from the Horizons party, has 18 members including Joël Guerriau since the senatorial renewal of September 2023. The senator was indicted for “administering to a person, without his knowledge, a substance likely to impair his judgment or control of his actions to commit rape or sexual assault”, and placed under judicial supervision on Friday evening.
According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, the complainant felt ill after having a drink on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday at the Parisian home of the senator, with whom she did not have an intimate relationship.