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Juan Branco

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Juan Branco
Juan Branco in 2019
Born1989 (age 34–35)
Estepona, Andalusia,
Spain
NationalityFrench, Spanish
EducationÉcole normale supérieure (Paris), Sciences Po Paris
OccupationLawyer
FatherPaulo Branco

Juan Branco (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxwan ˈbɾaŋko], French: [bʁɑ̃ko], born 1989) is a French political activist, writer and lawyer.

He gained notoriety in 2019 with his book Crépuscule, critical of French President Emmanuel Macron, and in early 2020, with his involvement in the Griveaux affair. He has been a supporter of the Yellow vests movement.

In July 2023, in the context of his defense as a lawyer of the Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, the French government referred him to the French justice system and Senegal issued an international arrest warrant against him.

Early life and education

Branco was born in 1989 in Estepona, near Málaga. He is the son of film producer Paulo Branco.[citation needed] He was naturalized French in 2010.[1]

He went to the École alsacienne, an elite private high school in Paris.[2] He is said to have had a "golden childhood" in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood of Paris.[3]

He studied as undergraduate at Sciences Po and as graduate and PhD student at the École normale supérieure, where he was audit student.[4]

As a student, Branco supported former right-wing Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, a friend of his mother's.[4] Afterwards he supported The Greens (France) and then participated in the campaign of future President François Hollande (Socialist Party). He worked several months during the campaign for future French Minister of Culture and Communications Aurélie Filippetti, who refused him a position of chief of staff after the election.

Branco then joined the left-wing populist party La France Insoumise. He stood in the 2017 French legislative election for Seine-Saint-Denis's 12th constituency where he placed fourth. His former running-mate stated that Branco "wanted to win a parliamentary seat and abandoned the party after the loss".[4] After he was refused a sufficiently high spot on the electoral list of La France Insoumise in the 2019 European Parliament election in France his support for the party ended and he called for an abstention in the election.[5][6]

He became a vocal supporter of the Yellow vests movement, some of whose members he also represented in court, including Maxime Nicolle,[3] and a critic of French President Emmanuel Macron thereafter.[7]

In 2015, he was the legal advisor for France of WikiLeaks and as such requested asylum in France for Julian Assange, with whom he had met in 2009.[8][9] In 2020, he was not part of the legal team of Assange.[10]

Branco passed the bar in 2017.[8][11]

In 2018, Branco accused peacekeeping forces of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) of having been involved in a massacre in the city of Bangui, an accusation denied by MINUSCA; he was expelled from the country.[12] He had been tasked as an independent expert for the United Nations with developing a strategy for investigations conducted by the Special Criminal Court in the Central African Republic. He was fired by the UN less than a week after his mission started.[13]

In 2018, he was accused of outing his former classmate and government spokesman Gabriel Attal on Twitter as gay, which he denied.[14]

Branco represented his father Paulo Branco and won against Terry Gilliam in The Man Who Killed Don Quixote case.[15]

Branco's book Crépuscule, in which he criticized the Emmanuel Macron, was published in 2019. It was commercially successful but received mostly negative reviews in the French press.[16][17][18][19][20][21]

In 2021, he represented one of the defendants in the Mila affair cyberbullying case.[22]

Griveaux affair

In February 2020 it was reported that Branco was representing the Russian activist Petr Pavlensky both before and after the latter leaked sexually explicit videos depicting Benjamin Griveaux, then candidate in the mayoral elections for Paris. He publicly approved Pavlensky’s actions, which he called a "total questioning of the system", which led him to be called a "spoiled brat" and an "activist without scruples" in the French press.[23] Multiple sources claimed that Branco was himself involved in the leak,[24] a criminal offense under French law.[25]

Pavlensky was arrested on 14 February 2020 for stabbing two people during a New Year's Eve party organized by Branco and his girlfriend in a Paris flat owned by the latter's parents.[26]

After Branco was hired by Pavlensky as his defense attorney, the chairman of the French bar association opened an inquiry because of Branco's involvement in the affair. No conflict of interest was found but Branco was advised to step down as Pavlensky's defense attorney due to a "lack of distance".[27] Branco initially followed the advice but later reverted his decision and rejoined the defense.[28] Branco went on to request a psychological evaluation of Griveaux, the victim of the alleged crime, whose defense called the request "grotesque and hateful". The request was denied by the examining magistrate as it was deemed "not useful for the establishment of the truth".[29] In October 2020, it was reported that disciplinary proceedings were being pursued against Branco by the Paris Bar Association following his involvement in the affair.[30]

In September 2021, he received a blame from the Paris Bar Association for having "amplified the viral distribution" of the intimate videos, but was cleared of the other charges.[31]

In September 2022, the investigating magistrates cleared Branco of all charges.[32]

In June 2023, the Paris Court of Appeal overturned the discipline imposed on Branco by the Paris Bar Association.[33]

Sonko Affair

In 2023, he defended senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, who was accused of defamation by the Senegalese Tourism Minister, after a statement about his management of public funds.[34][35] On 30 March, he was refused entry into the country by the police at Dakar airport.[36][37]

On 22 June, Juan Branco filed a complaint in France and also called for the International Criminal Court to investigate Senegalese officials for 'crimes against humanity', including President Macky Sall, his interior minister and the commander of the gendarmerie, as well as 119 suspects throughout the chain of command.[38][39] The document came in the wake of deadly protests in early June sparked by criminal charges against Sonko that critics said were politically motivated.[40]

In July 2023, the French government referred Juan Branco to the public prosecutor for putting in life danger French civil servants in Senegal. Branco had indeed accused two French civil servants of crime against humanity, mentioning them by name, before disclosing the personal details of one of them, such as his telephone number or personnel number. Juan Branco also named five other agents in his complaint.[41][42]

Senegal issued an international arrest warrant against Branco in July 2023. The committee of lawyers for Sonko issued a statement in which it "firmly expressed (its) strong indignation at any such abuse of our colleague Juan Branco", whose "only fault" would be "to have denounced, at the request of victims' relatives, serious crimes allegedly committed in Senegal, and to have seized the competent jurisdictions to judge and condemn all the people" on whom "presumptions weigh".[43]

Claims contradicted by other people or entities

Branco claimed to have been chief of staff of the French Minister of Culture and Communications Aurélie Filippetti,[11] but Filippetti denied it. She later stated that he "demanded to be hired as her chief of staff at age 22", that he "completely lost it when he was refused the position", and told her that he recorded their conversations. She describes him as "dangerous, intelligent and skillful", as "megalomaniacal, a compulsive liar and very, very manipulative".[5]

In 2016 he solicited Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member of the group directly involved in the attacks in Paris on 13 November 2015, proposing in a letter to help in his legal defense and claiming to be representing Julian Assange.[44][45] As he was not yet admitted to the bar and therefore not legally permitted to practice law, one of the French lawyers representing Abdeslam characterized Branco's actions as attempted fraud.[46]

In 2018, L'Express stated that Branco had made false statements on his CV and elsewhere. After Branco defended himself from this accusation, L'Express provided additional information to support their allegations. Branco claimed to have been a lecturer at the École normale supérieure, but the school told L'Express that it referred to an exercise for students that every student does. Branco also claimed that he "never [had] created a Skyblog", but L'Express provided screen captures of the blog he co-administered during his high school years. The blog invited the pupils to rate the girls in the school according to their physique and used derogatory language[11] Exercising his right of reply, published by the newspaper on 29 April 2019, Branco criticised the article for presenting "a one-sided portrait of a 29-year-old man, based in particular on facts that occurred during [his] minority";[47] he also pointed out that L'Express is owned by the businessman and billionaire Patrick Drahi, who had been heavily criticised in Crépuscule.[48][49][50]

Branco has also claimed that he worked as a "special assistant" to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Asked for a clarification by the French journal GQ France, the Court denied that claim and explained that "in reality he was an intern... and then worked at the OTP Public Information Unit".[51]

Cases involving Branco in personal capacity

In April 2021, a 20-year-old woman declared to the police she had felt threatened and coerced on night in a context of an intimate relation under the influence of a drug they had taken together, while Branco claimed the relation was consensual. A police inquiry was made, and his lawyer stated that the woman said herself that she did not oppose to any step, took off her clothes herself and slept over at his place and that the inquiry was abusive.[52][53] He has been put under official criminal investigation on the count of rape in November 2021.[54]

In 2023, a former employee of Branco sued him for moral harassment and infringement of French labor law. She revealed that Branco overburdened her with work, had her to meet with clients even though she never studied law, was reluctant to pay her at all and used a series of humiliating techniques when she wanted to leave and afterwards when she wanted to obtain the documents she was legally entitled to receive from him. She stated: "He presents himself as the defender of the widow and the orphan, but behind the scenes he exploits his employees. He has no limits." Branco tried to have her sued for "blackmail", accusing her to threaten him to share confidential documents, but the public attorney dismissed the case. Liberation commented: "A method typical of the lawyer's stunts: attacking first on social networks, the better to claim the lead in the story and pose as the atoning victim of imagined enemies."[non-primary source needed] According to the former employee, Branco was often paranoid, like when in the morning he would announce that foreign intelligence services broke into his apartment to access his computers during the night. Branco stated that the two interns at the firm during the same period have stated under oath in writing that their working conditions were normal, which the newspaper verified to be true.[55]

Activity on Wikipedia

Branco has been editing his own Wikipedia pages for many years, attempting to embellish his biography. He makes his edits under multiple identities, using what are known as sockpuppets.[56] He has also edited articles of others to "settle accounts" by portraying them in a negative light.[57]

In 2014, he once wrote a threatening letter to the employer of another Wikipedia editor, pretending to be a "Wikipedia administrator" named Addas Karadas and threatening legal action.[58]

Bibliography

  • Réponses à Hadopi (Paris, Capricci, 2011, ISBN 978-2918040255)[59]
  • De l'affaire Katanga au contrat social global: Un regard sur la Cour pénale internationale (Paris, 2015, LGDJ-IUV, 2015, ISBN 978-2370320582)[60]
  • L'ordre et le monde (Paris, Fayard, 2016, ISBN 978-2213680880), edited by Alain Badiou and Barbara Cassin[61]
  • D'après une image de Daesh (Paris, Lignes, 2017, ISBN 978-2-35526-164-0)[62]
  • Contre Macron (Edition Divergence, 2019, ISBN 979-1097088125)
  • Crépuscule (Paris, Au Diable Vauvert, 2019) ISBN 979-1030702606
  • Assange, l'antisouverain (Paris, Éditions du Cerf, 2020) ISBN 978-2204133074

References

  1. ^ Endeweld 2013
  2. ^ "Juan Branco, le radical chic qui veut la peau de la Macronie". 11 February 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Juan Branco, itinéraire d'un enfant gâté devenu activiste sans scrupule" (in French). 18 February 2020. Retrieved 2020-03-08.
  4. ^ a b c Tabet (March 2020). "Dans les réseaux de Juan Branco". Le Parisien (in French) (23487): 20–23.
  5. ^ a b "Des grandes écoles aux "gilets jaunes" en passant par WikiLeaks : Qui est Juan Branco, l'avocat proche de Piotr Pavlenski ?" (in French). 7 May 2019. Retrieved 2020-03-08.
  6. ^ "Juan Branco, l'avocat qui intrigue" (in French). Retrieved 2020-03-08.
  7. ^ "Des grandes écoles aux "gilets jaunes" en passant par WikiLeaks : qui est Juan Branco, l'avocat proche de Piotr Pavlenski ?". Franceinfo (in French). 2019-05-07. Retrieved 2020-06-30.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ a b "Affaire Griveaux : Ce qu'il faut savoir sur Juan Branco". 17 February 2020.
  9. ^ https://www.liberation.fr/planete/2020/02/20/assange-veut-demander-l-asile-en-france_1779078/
  10. ^ https://www.francetvinfo.fr/faits-divers/affaire/assange/les-avocats-de-julian-assange-veulent-demander-l-asile-politique-pour-le-fondateur-de-wikileaks-a-emmanuel-macron_3835301.html
  11. ^ a b c "Les réponses de l'Express à Juan Branco". 29 April 2019.
  12. ^ Ross, Aaron (May 31, 2018). "U.N. fires Central Africa legal adviser who accused peacekeepers of massacre". Reuters.
  13. ^ Kouassi, Carole (31 May 2018). "Centrafrique: la Minusca expulse un expert français qui l'accuse de crimes". fr.africanews.com (in French).
  14. ^ "Juan Branco : « Nous serons probablement demain l'un et l'autre des ennemis principiels" (in French). 17 January 2019. Retrieved 2020-03-08.
  15. ^ "Paris appeals court rules in favour of Paulo Branco on 'The Man Who Killed Don Quixote'". Screen. Retrieved 2018-06-18.
  16. ^ "Crépuscule: Juan Branco découvre la lune".
  17. ^ ""Peuplecratie" d'Ilvo Diamanti et Marc Lazar / "Crépuscule" de Juan Branco". 11 May 2019.
  18. ^ ""Crépuscule» de Juan Branco, ce qu'il faut garder et ce qu'il faut jeter"". 26 April 2019.
  19. ^ ""Crépuscule" de Juan Branco : Fausse enquête-révélations sur Macron et vrai gâchis". 6 June 2019.
  20. ^ "Critique des médias, attaques sur Macron... On a lu "Crépuscule", le livre "censuré" de Juan Branco". 25 April 2019.
  21. ^ "Qui a peur du "révolutionnaire" Juan Branco?". Le Temps. 17 April 2019.
  22. ^ "France: 11 convicted of cyberbullying teen who slammed Islam". Associated Press. 7 July 2021. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  23. ^ https://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/juan-branco-itineraire-d-un-enfant-gate-devenu-activiste-sans-scrupule-20200218
  24. ^ "Vidéos intimes de Griveaux : le rôle trouble de Juan Branco". lepoint.fr (in French). 14 February 2020. Retrieved 2020-02-29.
  25. ^ "France shrugs at sex scandals. But after a leaked video, this politician bowed out". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2020-02-29.
  26. ^ "Piotr Pavlenski : Dans les coulisses de sa soirée du 31 décembre 2019 à Paris". 29 February 2020.
  27. ^ "Le bâtonnier de Paris a demandé à Branco de ne pas défendre Pavlenski". lepoint.fr (in French). 2020-02-19. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  28. ^ "Branco redevient avocat de Pavlenski et demande une expertise psychiatrique de Griveaux". LExpress.fr (in French). 2020-03-05. Retrieved 2020-03-05.
  29. ^ "Griveaux : La justice refuse l'expertise psychiatrique demandée par Branco". LePoint.fr (in French). 2020-03-12. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  30. ^ "L'Ordre des avocats lance des poursuites disciplinaires contre Juan Branco". nouvelobs.com (in French). 2020-10-08. Retrieved 2020-12-17.
  31. ^ Leplongeon, Marc (2021-10-04). "INFO LE POINT. Affaire Griveaux : Juan Branco sanctionné d'un blâme". Le Point (in French). Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  32. ^ "Affaire Griveaux : Juan Branco échappe à la justice… mais pas Piotr Pavlenski ni sa compagne". www.marianne.net (in French). 2022-09-06. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  33. ^ "Justice. Affaire Griveaux: la cour d'appel de Paris annule un blâme infligé à l'avocat Juan Branco". www.leprogres.fr (in French). Retrieved 2023-06-21.
  34. ^ "L'avocat Juan Branco expulsé du Sénégal en marge d'un procès politique". LEFIGARO (in French). 2023-03-31. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  35. ^ "Pourquoi Ousmane Sonko a choisi l'avocat français Juan Branco – Jeune Afrique". JeuneAfrique.com (in French). 2023-03-23. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  36. ^ "Expulsion de Juan Branco du Sénégal : l'art et l'absence de manière ? – Jeune Afrique". JeuneAfrique.com (in French). 2023-03-30. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  37. ^ https://www.facebook.com/RFI (2023-03-31). "Juan Branco, avocat d'Ousmane Sonko, n'était pas le bienvenu au pays de la Teranga". RFI (in French). Retrieved 2023-05-19. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help); External link in |last= (help)
  38. ^ "Sénégal : Juan Branco, l'avocat d'Ousmane Sonko, accuse le pouvoir de « crimes contre l'humanité »". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2023-06-23. Retrieved 2023-07-13.
  39. ^ https://www.facebook.com/RFI (2023-06-22). "Sénégal: plainte en France et demande d'enquête à la CPI contre Macky Sall pour «crimes contre l'humanité»". RFI (in French). Retrieved 2023-07-13. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help); External link in |last= (help)
  40. ^ News, A. B. C. "Senegal opposition leader Sonko's lawyer files a lawsuit in France and calls for an ICC inquiry". ABC News. Retrieved 2023-07-13. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  41. ^ https://www.europe1.fr/politique/info-europe-1-le-ministere-des-affaires-etrangeres-porte-plainte-contre-juan-branco-4193848
  42. ^ https://www.lefigaro.fr/international/le-ministere-des-affaires-etrangeres-a-depose-des-signalements-contre-l-avocat-juan-branco-20230713
  43. ^ https://www.ouest-france.fr/monde/senegal/mandat-darret-international-signalements-ce-que-lon-sait-des-plaintes-visant-juan-branco-ef41ee6a-2317-11ee-9431-73dfb3ee49de
  44. ^ "Quand Juan Branco écrivait à Salah Abdeslam". valeursactuelles.com. 22 February 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2020..
  45. ^ "Juan Branco a écrit une lettre à Salah Abdeslam en 2016 pour le conseiller". rtl.fr. 22 February 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2020..
  46. ^ ""C'est un exercice illégal" : quand il sollicite le terroriste Abdeslam, Juan Branco... n'est pas encore avocat". marianne.net. 25 February 2020..
  47. ^ "Droit de réponse de Juan Branco". L'Express (in French). 2019-04-29. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  48. ^ "Les réponses de l'Express à Juan Branco". 29 April 2019.
  49. ^ "L'Express VS Juan Branco : le vrai du faux - Par Manuel Vicuña | Arrêt sur images". www.arretsurimages.net. 2019-02-15. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  50. ^ "Des grandes écoles aux "gilets jaunes" en passant par WikiLeaks : qui est Juan Branco, l'avocat proche de Piotr Pavlenski ?". Franceinfo (in French). 2019-05-07. Retrieved 2020-06-30.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  51. ^ "Affaire Griveaux : Qui est Juan Branco, l'avocat qui dit "avoir accompagné" Piotr Pavlenski ?". GQ (in French) (French ed.). 25 September 2019. Archived from the original on 2021-10-21.
  52. ^ "L'avocat Juan Branco visé par une enquête pour viol". Le Monde.fr. 30 April 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  53. ^ Décugis, Jean-Michel (June 2021). "Visé par une enquête pour viol, l'avocat Juan Branco placé en garde à vue". Le Parisien. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  54. ^ "Juan Branco mis en examen pour viol". lepoint.fr. 24 November 2021.
  55. ^ https://www.liberation.fr/societe/police-justice/au-cabinet-de-juan-branco-il-se-presente-en-defenseur-de-la-veuve-et-de-lorphelin-mais-derriere-il-exploite-ses-employes-20230712_QMON3PN7PFGGFO7P5CCETPEHKU/
  56. ^ See Category:Suspected Wikipedia sockpuppets of Brancojuan
  57. ^ "Sur Wikipédia, les vies rêvées de Juan Branco". 21 February 2020.
  58. ^ "Juan Branco, l'avocat qui intrigue".
  59. ^ Library of the Congress
  60. ^ BNF reference
  61. ^ Editorial description of L'ordre et le monde
  62. ^ "Editorial description". 2020-02-25.
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