Juan Branco’s stunts got him into trouble all the way to Africa. On Sunday morning, authorities in Senegal announced the arrest and indictment of the Franco-Spanish lawyer for “attack”, “conspiracy” and “spreading false news”. The 33-year-old lawyer, brought to the fore during the “yellow vests” crisis and then the Griveaux affair, was actively sought by the Senegalese authorities who had issued an arrest warrant against him in mid-July. .
According to the magazine Here, he was arrested while trying to leave Senegal in a canoe, disguised as a fisherman. Juan Branco claims to have been “kidnapped” about 100 km from the Mauritanian capital, reported one of his colleagues, Me Ciré Clédor Ly, citing hooded men who allegedly injured his wrists. According to information from Point, the lawyer would have been placed under judicial supervision. He is about to be expelled from the country.
The name of Juan Branco has been known in Senegal since he took part in the defense of Ousmane Sonko, the political opponent engaged since 2021 in a standoff with power. Last June, the sentencing of Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison in a sex scandal, making him ineligible for the 2024 presidential election, sparked the worst unrest Senegal has seen in years. The repression of the demonstrations has left at least 23 dead according to the NGO Amnesty International.
For the first time in March, Juan Branco had been turned away by the Dakar airport police when he came to defend his client. The Senegalese authorities had little appreciated that two days before his arrival, the lawyer described President Macky Sall as a “tyrant” in a post on social networks. Behavior “unacceptable on the part of a foreign citizen”, had estimated the Ministry of the Interior, accusing him of “calling for insurrection”.
After the massive demonstrations in June, the lawyer and activist, known in France for his virulence against Emmanuel Macron and “his system”, denounces a “widespread and systematic attack on the civilian population”. He calls for an investigation at the International Criminal Court against Senegalese President Macky Sall for “crimes against humanity”, claiming to have established “the murder of 50 people” between March 2021 and June 2023 and several thousand arbitrary detentions. At the same time, he filed a complaint in France before the crimes against humanity division of the Paris court, accusing “the presidency of the Republic” of “particularly massive arms orders” to repress its population.
“It’s just ridiculous,” reacts Macky Sall on the sidelines of an economic summit in Paris. The Senegalese authorities are quick to respond. In mid-July, the prosecution, based on its multiple statements, announced the opening of a judicial investigation and an arrest warrant against the lawyer for “crimes and misdemeanors”.
Ignoring this arrest warrant, Juan Branco appears by surprise on July 30 in Dakar. Two days before, his client was arrested on various charges, including “calling for insurrection” and “undermining state security”. During a press conference alongside other counsel for Ousmane Sonko, the French lawyer, persona non grata in Senegal, in a deep voice, addresses the public prosecutor. “We have come to tell you that we are not afraid”, he begins, saying to himself “bearer of the hope of the great people of the underprivileged”, which “resounds beyond these regions”.
This hope, continues the militant lawyer in a lyrical flight, “rises and affixes itself in the hearts of hundreds of thousands of exiles, who from Paris to Hong Kong, had to flee the misery that their rulers generated. (…) A hope finally which, “starting from the young disadvantaged people of Thiès (hometown of Ousmane Sonko in Senegal, editor’s note), sails to the French yellow vests, passing by the children of Ghaza”.
After his arrest in Mauritania, Juan Branco was charged with attack, conspiracy, dissemination of false news and acts and maneuvers likely to compromise public security or cause serious political unrest. Later Sunday, new charges of illegal stay and contempt of court are served on him according to his Parisian lawyers, Mes Robin Binsard, Luc Brossollet and François Gibault. In Senegal, acts of attack are punishable by penalties of up to life imprisonment, underlined Me Ciré Clédor Ly, also lawyer for Ousmane Sonko. While he refuses to drink and eat, his French lawyers have declared his condition “worrying”.
On the left, a few voices were raised in defense of the lawyer. Starting with Jean-Luc Mélenchon, whom Juan Branco has defended in the past. In several Twitter posts, the leader of rebellious France condemned Dakar’s “authoritarian drift” and defended his former lawyer. “Macky Sall’s regime is once again flouting the most basic democratic principles! Why this silence?”, was also alarmed the EELV deputy for Val-d’Oise Aurélien Taché, while the elected LFI Alexis Corbière called on the French government to “intervene with the Senegalese authorities”.
The detention at the Rebeuss remand center, one of the harshest prisons in Senegal according to his lawyer Me Binsard, will have been short-lived, since the Franco-Spanish lawyer will be expelled. “It’s a huge relief, reacted his lawyer on Monday in the columns of Point. We are happy and proud of this decision.”
