Overview
- The Senate Bureau voted Thursday, May 28, to lift Francis Szpiner’s parliamentary immunity narrowly so he can be placed in garde à vue for police questioning.
- The probe centers on a 2023 social-housing allocation that a woman says was granted in exchange for sexual relations and is being investigated as possible active and passive corruption.
- The case began as a preliminary inquiry opened on October 18, 2024, was placed with a juge d’instruction on April 7, 2025, and has included searches at the XVIth arrondissement town hall and at Szpiner’s home.
- Szpiner, a lawyer and Les Républicains senator and former mayor of the 16th arrondissement, strongly denies the allegations and says the waiver is limited to a custody interview.
- Under the Constitution the Bureau must approve any deprivation of a parliamentarian’s liberty so this vote clears the way for immediate police steps while the judge-led inquiry continues and raises political scrutiny of municipal housing procedures.