2023-08-08 11:41:40
Franco-Spanish lawyer Juan Branco upon his arrival at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport, in the Paris region, on August 8, 2023. MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP
Arrested, extradited, imprisoned, charged and, finally, flown away. The Franco-Spanish lawyer Juan Branco boarded Monday evening August 7 aboard an Air Senegal plane departing from Dakar and heading to Paris. Targeted by an international arrest warrant issued by Senegal, the lawyer who advises the main opponent of the regime Ousmane Sonko – himself prosecuted for, among other charges, calls for insurrection – had entered “illegally” in the territory, according to Ismaila Madior Fall, Minister of Justice.
While trying to leave the country via Mauritania, Juan Branco was arrested on Saturday August 5 by the Mauritanian authorities, who handed him over to their Senegalese counterparts. Incarcerated in the Reubeuss prison in Dakar on the night of Saturday to Sunday, he was prosecuted for “attack”, “conspiracy”, “spreading fake news” et “acts and maneuvers likely to compromise public security or cause serious political disturbances”, “irregular stay” et “contempt of court”according to his lawyers.
Read also: Juan Branco arrested at the border between Senegal and Mauritania
Monday morning, the author of Dusk was presented to the investigating judge. The latter charged him, but granted him provisional release and therefore placed him under judicial supervision. “The only restrictive measure is not to comment on the current file”assures Me Abdoulaye Tall, his lawyer in Senegal.
“He is not a Senegalese national, he has his family, his profession. We have very serious judicial cooperation agreements that bind us with France so there was no reason to keep him in the place of detention “justified the Keeper of the Seals on Monday at a press conference, adding, who explains that the judicial information procedure is still in progress and that he can be tried as soon as it is closed. “Judicial cooperation means that he can, for example, serve this possible sentence in France”said the minister.
To the rostrum of the National Assembly
This case has taken on an unexpected dimension in Senegal, to the point of being invited to the podium of the National Assembly. On Saturday August 5, the Minister of the Interior confirmed the arrest of the Franco-Spanish lawyer in the midst of parliamentary debates on the modification of the electoral code. Since then, his release has been controversial.
“This measure violates the honor and dignity of our country. Monsieur Branco teased us. He came here, he exploited the notoriety of Ousmane Sonko to sell himself. He insulted the magistrates, disrespected our institutions. He snubbed the investigators and the investigating judge by refusing to answer their questions”got carried away Mame Adama Guèye, former president of the order of the lawyers of Senegal on the waves of iRadio.
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