The media lawyer, charged and imprisoned in Dakar is now placed under judicial supervision and sent back to France.
Tired, but relieved, this is how the condition of Juan Branco, a Franco-Spanish lawyer, is described. This Monday, August 7, his lawyers My Robin Binsard and Yassine Bouzrou announced his release under judicial supervision. Arrested, charged and imprisoned on Sunday August 6 in Dakar after being prosecuted at the Mauritanian border for several days, the man will be deported to France in the coming hours. By way of protest, Juan Branco had started a hunger strike. “He was taken out of prison this morning and presented to the judge who notified him of his placement under judicial supervision. He is in a police station with a view to being taken to the airport. He is exhausted but relieved to be released free”, explained Me Robin Binsard.
Why was the lawyer arrested?
Juan Branco had come to Senegal to participate in the defense of the Senegalese opponent Ousmane Sonko, fiercely engaged in a struggle with power and justice which gave rise to several episodes of violence. Last June, he filed a complaint in France and a referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague against President Macky Sall for “crimes against humanity”. Wrongdoings for the Senegalese justice which indicted the lawyer this Sunday for attack, conspiracy, dissemination of false news and acts and maneuvers likely to compromise public security or cause serious political unrest. Faced with such charges, Me Branco’s French lawyers denounced a maneuver aimed at silencing their client, announcing immediate referral to the UN working group on arbitrary detention, citing a serious violation of individual freedoms.
Last July, an international arrest warrant was issued against the lawyer. “After having received the compilation of the statements, writings and posts” of the lawyer, “it was noted elements which, obviously, are likely to engage his criminal responsibility”, indicated a press release at the time of the parquet floor sent to AFP, announcing “the opening of a judicial investigation”.
Juan Branco, 31, is a media lawyer, notably known for having defended the Russian artist Piotr Pavlenski in the case of the broadcast in 2020 of the sexual video of the former government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux, candidate for mayor of Paris. He also defends Christophe Dettinger, the boxer filmed hitting two gendarmes during act 8 of the “yellow vests”, or even the yellow vest Maxime Nicolle, who is nicknamed Fly Rider. He is also the author of an anti-Macron pamphlet “Crépuscule”, published online at the end of 2018 then Au Diable Vauvert / Massot in 2019.