Senegal arrests French lawyer Juan Branco over call for uprising

Senegalese authorities have detained Juan Branco, a French lawyer and adviser to opposition figure Ousmane Sonko, on charges of call for uprising and dissemination of false information.

Branco has been subject to an arrest warrant issued by Senegal but he challenged the warrant, showing up at a press conference in capital Dakar on July 30, after Sonko was detained and jailed for calling for uprising.

He was, according to the Senegalese police, arrested Saturday August 5 in the Mauritanian border town of Rosso, and was brought to Senegal for interrogation and later on Sunday to Rebeuss detention Center in Dakar.

“He will be prosecuted for calling for insurrection, spreading false news, acts and manoeuvres likely to compromise public safety or cause serious disturbance,” a police source told State-run news agency APS.

“This is not an investigation, but the execution of an international arrest warrant,” the source added. Branco has been under scrutiny after he sued Senegalese leader Macky Sall and several of his aides before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crime against humanity after June 2023 bloody crackdown of riots in Senegal, following the condemnation of Sonko to two years in prison.

Senegal on July 14 issued an international arrest warrant against him for “crimes and misdemeanors” in connection with the unrest in early June 2023.