French lawyer for Senegalese opposition leader jailed in Dakar

DAKAR, Senegal

Juan Branco, a French lawyer helping to represent Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, has been detained on charges of conspiracy, spreading fake news and endangering public safety, his lawyers announced on Sunday.

Branco was arrested near the border with Mauritania and transferred to Dakar on Saturday, five days after Sonko was charged with fomenting insurrection and placed in detention. 

Sonko has faced multiple charges in the past two years, which he claims are designed to keep him out of politics as Senegal prepares for a presidential election in February 2024. 

Branco is one of several lawyers defending the opposition figure. 

He appeared before a judge in Dakar on Sunday and was charged with "attacks, conspiracy, dissemination of fake news and actions liable to compromise public safety or cause serious political disturbance", the lawyers representing him said.

He has been wanted in Senegal since mid-July, when authorities issued an international warrant for his arrest in connection with deadly riots that broke out in June after Sonko was sentenced to prison for "corrupting youth".

During the unrest, Branco announced that he would seek to take Senegal's President Macky Sall and other prominent members of his government to the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.

Branco's French defence team claimed that the charges against him were politically motivated and said they had asked the UN's working group on arbitrary arrest to investigate.

Branco was not in Senegal when the warrant was issued, but made a surprise appearance at a press conference held by Sonko's defence team in Dakar on 30 July, having entered the country in secret. 

"We came here to tell you that we're not afraid," Branco posted on Twitter at the time. 

The lawyer then took flight and is understood to have hired a fishing boat to take him across the Mauritanian border when he was arrested.

Branco, who also has Spanish nationality, is well-known in France as a left-wing political activist, media commentator and former candidate for the hard-left party La France Insoumise (France Unbowed).

He has worked on several high-profile legal cases, including defending members of the Yellow Vest protest movement.