<\/p>\n
PARIS: French investigators on Friday were questioning a senator arres\u00adted on suspicion of drugging a lower house MP with a view to assaulting her, in a case that has rocked France\u2019s parliament.<\/p>\n
Joel Guerriau, a centrist senator from western France, was arrested on Thursday after the alleged attempted assault against MP Sandrine Josso, a source familiar with the case said.<\/p>\n
He was being held on suspicion of \u201cadministering to a person without their knowledge a substance, likely to diminish their judgement or self-control, to commit a rape or sexual assault,\u201d prosecutors said Thursday.<\/p>\n
Josso felt ill after accepting a drink on Tuesday night at the 66-year-old senator\u2019s Paris home. The Senate is the upper house of the French parliament.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors said the two were not in an intimate relationship. Tests revealed she had ecstasy in her system, investigators added, prompting her to file the criminal complaint.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe initial information that I have suggests that it was ecstasy,\u201d Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau told broadcaster RTL on Friday. Guerriau was arrested and held in custody under caught-in-the-act rules allowing police to override parliamentary immunity, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n
The Senate is the upper house of the French parliament. Broadcaster RMC, which first reported the story, said police had searched his office and home, where prosecutors confirmed they found ecstasy.<\/p>\n
Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2023<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PARIS: French investigators on Friday were questioning a senator arres\u00adted on suspicion of drugging a lower house MP with a view to assaulting her, in a case that has rocked France\u2019s parliament. Joel Guerriau, a centrist senator from western France, was arrested on Thursday after the alleged attempted assault against MP Sandrine Josso, a source […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2023\/11\/18113420689cdf8.png?r=113429","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t