In a courtroom setting, Joël Guerriau, aged 68, faced charges for allegedly introducing the drug ecstasy into a champagne glass he handed to Sandrine Josso in November 2023. While Guerriau admits to serving her the drink laced with the drug, he claims the incident was unintentional.

Josso, now 50, has emerged as a prominent advocate against drug-related offenses, playing a crucial role in launching a parliamentary inquiry into such crimes.

Here’s an overview of the high-profile case that has spotlighted drug-facilitated assaults across France.

Josso, representing the centrist faction in the National Assembly, recounted in court that the centre-right senator extended an invitation to his Paris residence, under the impression it was a celebration of his re-election. Their acquaintance spanned several years, marked by a cordial relationship.

After consuming the champagne, Josso reported feeling suddenly ill, experiencing symptoms like heart palpitations and involuntary tremors.

She said she quickly began feeling unwell after drinking champagne, suffering heart palpitations and uncontrollable shaking.

“I want the truth to come out. It’s important to me,” Josso told the court.

She later took medical and psychological leave. When she returned to the National Assembly two months later, she publicly recounted the incident.

“I went to a friend’s house to celebrate his reelection. I came out terrified,” she told lawmakers.

“I discovered an assailant. I then realised that I had been drugged without knowing it. That’s what we call drug-facilitated assault.”

Guerriau has denied any intent to drug or assault her.

Ex-senator denies intention to drug lawmaker

Guerriau told the court he made a “very serious” mistake that led him to serve Josso a drugged drink.

“I feel really sorry for Sandrine. That’s something I never wanted,” he said. “I hope one day she’ll forgive me.”

He said another senator had given him MDMA months earlier to help cope with depression and anxiety, though he refused to name the lawmaker.

Guerriau said he had put the white powder into a glass intended for himself the night before but did not use it, then mistakenly served the same glass to Josso the next day.

“Things happened very, very quickly. I did not think about it,” he said, acknowledging his “ignorance” about MDMA and what he called his “stupidity.”

Guerriau remained in the Senate for nearly two years after being charged despite calls for his resignation. He stepped down in October, presenting the move as political and unrelated to the case.

Investigators testified that Guerriau had searched online for information about drugs, including ecstasy, in connection with rape about a month before the incident. Guerriau said the research was part of his work as a senator.

“I never intended to commit an assault or harm Ms. Josso. I am devastated,” he told the court.

The case echoes landmark Pelicot trial

Less than a year after the senator’s case broke out, France was rocked by Gisèle Pelicot’s case, which put a worldwide spotlight on drug-facilitated sexual abuse.

Pelicot’s ex-husband and 50 other men were convicted of sexually assaulting her while she was under chemical submission between 2011 and 2020.

The harrowing and unprecedented trial exposed how pornography, chat rooms and men’s indifference to — or hazy understanding of — consent is fueling rape culture.

However, even after the Pelicot trial, France is still just starting to reckon with such crimes.

Drugging a person to commit rape or sexual assault is punishable by up to five years in prison, compared to a maximum sentence of 10 years for drug possession.

Josso became a major figure in France’s fight against drug-related sexual assault, joining an association set up by Gisèle Pelicot’s daughter, Caroline Darian.

The lawmaker co-authored a parliamentary report about drug-facilitated sexual abuse which calls for “taking action against the scourge that was ignored for too long.”

The report noted a lack of statistics and information on the phenomenon in the country and stressed authorities’ failure to provide victims with efficient means to do blood and other analysis especially overnight and in remote areas.

In the wake of the Pelicot trial, France adopted a new law in October 2025 defining rape and other sexual assault as any non-consensual sexual act. Until then, rape was defined under French law as penetration or oral sex using “violence, coercion, threat or surprise.”

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