A French court on Tuesday handed a one-year suspended sentence to a former Senate adviser for collecting over 1,800 mostly sexual images taken in public places or in the Senate building. The man went on trial in 2023 after his colleagues discovered a hard drive in a common area containing the images.

Issued on: 17/02/2026 - 19:47

A French court on Tuesday gave a one-year suspended sentence to a former adviser in the Senate for having taken pictures up women's skirts, including in the upper house.

Sebastien G., 50, went on trial after two colleagues in 2023 discovered a hard drive in the common area for the right-wing Les Republicans party containing more than 1,800 images, mostly sexual in nature, according to the judge during the trial last month.

The images included the buttocks and cleavage of clothed women, taken in public places such as the street or Senate, as well as images of an ex-girlfriend photographed naked at the defendant's home.

He was reported to Senate authorities the following year and fired after more than two decades in his post.

"I never wanted to hurt anyone," he said in court in January, claiming he had never shared the images. He said he had felt the "need to collect the beauty of women".

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The man has been banned from the Senate, and ordered to receive psychological and psychiatric help.

A court last month found a former senator guilty of drugging a woman lawmaker with ecstasy with intent to sexually assault her, sentencing him to 18 months behind bars.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

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