The Franco-Spanish lawyer Juan Branco was heard on Monday by the Spanish justice system before which he filed a complaint for his arrest last August in Mauritania and his handover to the Senegalese authorities.
Heard on Monday by a Madrid magistrate, Juan Branco “was able to recount in great detail the operation in Mauritania, his transfer to Senegal by parapolice units without any insignia,” his lawyer, Aitor Martinez, told the press.
Juan Branco filed a complaint in December for “kidnapping for terrorist purposes” in particular against Adramé Sarr, head of the criminal investigations division of the Senegalese police, whom he accuses of having orchestrated his arrest in Mauritanian territory last summer.
France did not provide him “at any time with consular assistance”
Targeted by an arrest warrant issued in mid-July by Senegal, Juan Branco entered the country to participate in the defense of Ousmane Sonko, opponent of President Macky Sall who became Prime Minister at the beginning of April after the resounding victory in the presidential election. by Bassirou Diomaye Faye. He was then arrested at the beginning of August in Mauritania after several days of searching and then handed over to the Senegalese authorities who finally released him and expelled him to France.
The lawyer referred the matter to the Spanish National Court, which has jurisdiction when the facts take place abroad. Speaking as he left the court, Juan Branco said he hoped that the Spanish justice system would “very quickly” issue international arrest warrants against the people he judges responsible for what he describes as “kidnapping” .
He explained that he had “initiated the procedures” in Spain on the grounds that France had not provided him “at any time with consular assistance”. “It is clear that in France, it will be very difficult to establish what happened,” he accused. He also estimated that the amnesty law adopted in Senegal just before the presidential election would prevent any prosecution.
Juan Branco particularly attracted attention in Senegal by announcing in June the filing of a complaint in France and a request for an investigation at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague against Macky Sall for “crimes against humanity” , after the worst unrest that Senegal has experienced in years.