AP
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A former French senator has been found guilty in a high-profile drug-induced sexual assault case, more than a year after France was rocked by a mass rape trial that made Gisele Pericot a symbol of the fight against sexual violence.
Joel Guerriault, 68, is on trial for putting the drug commonly known as ecstasy in a champagne glass he gave to Sandrine Josso in November 2023. Guerriault has admitted providing her with a drink containing MDMA, but claims it was an accident.
A Paris court on Tuesday sentenced him to 18 months in prison, with an additional suspended sentence and a ban on holding elected office.
Mr. Josso, 50, has since become a leading voice on the issue, helping to spearhead a parliamentary investigation into drug-related crimes.
Here’s what you need to know about the case that brought national attention to drug violence in France.
Centrist MP Josso told the court that the centre-right senator had invited her to his Paris apartment believing it was a re-election celebration. The two had known each other for many years and had a friendly relationship.
She said she immediately felt sick after drinking the champagne, suffering from heart palpitations and uncontrollable shaking.
Josso left her apartment, took a taxi, and went to the hospital, where a blood test revealed significant amounts of MDMA, far above the levels typically used for recreational purposes.
“I hope the truth comes out. That’s important to me,” Josso told the court.
She was subsequently placed on medical and psychological leave. When she returned to Parliament two months later, she spoke publicly about the incident.
“I went to a friend’s house to celebrate my re-election. I came out terrified,” she told lawmakers. “I found my assailant. Then I realized that I had been drugged without my knowledge. This is what we call a drug assault.”
Mr Gerriault denied intending to drug or assault her.
Mr Guerio told the court he had made a “very serious” mistake that led him to supply Mr Josso with a drug-laced drink.
“I’m really sorry to Sandrine. That’s something I never wanted,” he said. “I hope someday she will forgive me.”
He did not name the senator, but said another senator had taken MDMA several months ago to deal with depression and anxiety.
Mr. Geriot said he had filled his own glass with white powder the night before, but did not use it, and the next day he mistakenly offered the same glass to Mr. Josso.
“Things happened very, very quickly. I wasn’t thinking about it,” he said, admitting his “ignorance” and what he called “stupidity” about MDMA.
Mr. Guerrio remained in the Senate for nearly two years after his indictment, despite calls for him to resign. He resigned in October, insisting the move was political and unrelated to the incident.
Investigators testified that about a month before the incident, Guerio had searched the internet for information on drugs such as ecstasy in connection with the rape. Geriot said the study is part of his work as a senator.
“I never intended to assault or harm Mr. Josso. I am devastated,” he said in court on Tuesday.
This case mirrors the landmark Pericot case.
Less than a year after the senator’s case broke, France was rocked by the Gisele Pericot case, which focused global attention on drug-facilitated sexual abuse.
Perricotte’s ex-husband and 50 other men were found guilty of sexually assaulting her while she was under chemical subjugation between 2011 and 2020.
This harrowing and unprecedented trial revealed how pornography, chat rooms, and men’s indifference to or vague understanding of consent fuel rape culture.
However, even after the Perico trial, France has only just begun to consider such crimes.
Administering drugs to someone for the purpose of rape or sexual assault is punishable by up to five years in prison, while drug possession carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Josso joined the association founded by Gisèle Pericot’s daughter, Caroline Darien, and has become a leading figure in France’s fight against drug-related sexual assault.
He co-authored a parliamentary report on drug-induced sexual abuse, calling for “action to be taken against this scourge that has been ignored for far too long”.
The report pointed to a lack of statistics and information on the phenomenon in the country and highlighted the failure of authorities to provide victims with efficient means for blood and other analyzes to be carried out, especially at night and in remote areas.
Following the Pericot trial, France adopted a new law in October 2025 that defines rape and other sexual assaults as non-consensual sexual acts. Previously, French law defined rape as penetration or oral sex using “force, force, threat or surprise.”
In the United States, the Bill Cosby case, which came to light in 2014, raised public awareness of a pattern in which victims, mostly women, were offered pills and drinks that left them disoriented, blacked out, and paralyzed.
Mr. Cosby, once known as “America’s Dad,” was convicted of sexual assault and jailed. But in 2021, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed his conviction and ordered his release, in a stunning reversal of fortune. Cosby was previously convicted of drugging and sexually abusing a woman at his home near Philadelphia in 2004.
British authorities last month charged a man with drugging and repeatedly raping a woman who became his ex-wife. Five other men have been charged with sex crimes against the same woman.
Philip Young, 49, was charged with 56 offenses over a 13-year period between 2010 and 2023, including multiple rapes in which he drugged Joanne Young, 48, with the intent to put her in a stupor, the Crown Prosecution Service and Wiltshire Police said.
