A French senator accused of drugging a member of parliament with the intention of sexually assaulting her will resign next month, he said on Saturday, September 20, though his accuser said the delayed departure left her in "disgust."
Senator Joël Guerriau, 67, is facing trial for allegedly using ecstasy to spike a glass of champagne that National Assembly Deputy Sandrine Josso was drinking in November 2023. Guerriau, who denies the charges, said he would resign from the upper house in early October.
The three-term senator said he had long planned to step down two years into his current six-year term, denying the decision was related to his criminal case.
Josso said the news, "which [Guerriau] claims is the result of a personal commitment and not connected with the extremely serious legal case in which he is charged," had left her in "disgust."
"Once again, it's the aggressor who chooses his schedule, his narrative, his exit," the lower house lawmaker said in a statement. "This is not an act of responsibility or decency. It's a strategic retreat, just months from his trial and having profited immensely from the privileges of his office."
Senate President Gerard Larcher announced in July that he would refer Guerriau's case to the chamber's ethics committee, setting him up to face possible disciplinary measures. Guerriau had already been suspended by his party, the center-right Horizons group, after he was charged with drugging Josso with the intention of raping or sexually assaulting her.
The senator has rejected the accusation that he deliberately drugged her, describing the incident as a "handling error".
The allegations come after Frenchman Dominique Pelicot was jailed for 20 years in December for repeatedly drugging his wife so he and strangers could rape her, in a case that shocked France.