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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
Parent

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

He came to prominence in 2019 with his book Crépuscule, critical of the French President Emmanuel Macron and people in the media and finance sector who supported his presidential campaign. Branco has evolve in his political affiliations and has been a supporter of the Yellow vests movement.

He has courted controversy, notably for his involvement with the Russian performance artist Petr Pavlensky in the Griveaux affair in 2020.

In July 2023, when he was a member of the legal team of the Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, the Senegalese authorities issued an international arrest warrant against him. He was arrested in August 2023 after entering the country clandestinely.

Background and education

Branco was born in 1989 in Estepona, near Málaga, one of the four children of Spanish psychoanalyst Dolores Lopez and Portuguese film producer Paulo Branco.[1] He grew up in the affluent neighbourhood of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in the 6th arrondissement of Paris and attended the École alsacienne, an elite private school.[1] He studied as an undergraduate at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) and as a graduate and PhD student at the École normale supérieure.[1] He went on to do research at Yale University and at the Max Planck Institute in Luxembourg.[2]

Political activity

As a student, Branco stood for the Green Party in the 2008 local elections in Paris.[2] The following year, he set up the student think-tank Jeune République, with the support of, amongst others, former right-wing Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin.[2][1]

In 2012 Branco worked for the presidential election campaign of François Hollande (Socialist Party), attached to the office of deputy Aurélie Filippetti who was in charge of culture and media. But he fell out with Filipetti when she did not give him a position of office manager once she became Culture Minister.[2]

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 came fourth with 13.94% of the vote.[2] After being denied a sufficiently high place on the electoral list of La France Insoumise in the 2019 European Parliament election in France he withdrew his support for the party.[1]

In 2018 he lent his support to the Yellow vests movement, appearing at the head of protest marches and being present when protesters forced the doors of Benjamin Griveaux's ministry with a fork-lift truck.[2] He also represented members of the movement, including Maxime Nicolle, in court.[2] March 2019 saw the publication of his book Crépuscule, an attack on the government of President Emmanuel Macron.[3]

Branco was admitted to the Bar in 2017.[4]

Prior to being admitted to the Bar, Branco had been on the legal team of Wikileaks as a legal advisor and unsuccessfully requested asylum in France for Julian Assange.[5]

In 2018, Branco was one of three lawyers solicited by the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) to give assistance to the country's special criminal court. After a week in the Central African Republic, the United Nations ended his contract and he was asked to leave the country because he had posted on Twitter an accusation that peacekeeping forces had killed thirty civilians.[6]

Branco represented his father Paulo Branco in his legal dispute with Terry Gilliam over the film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, with the Court of Appeal of Paris ruling in Paul Branco's favour.[7]

In 2021, Branco represented one of the defendants in the Mila cyberbullying case.[8]

Griveaux affair

Branco was the legal advisor of Russian performance artist Petr Pavlensky who, in February 2020, disseminated an explicit video that led to the resignation of French deputy and Paris mayoral candidate Benjamin Griveaux. Branco voiced his support for Pavlensky's actions in a way that caused speculation that he himself had played a role in the affair.[9] Rejecting the advice of the French Bar Association to resign due to his proximity to the events in question, Branco continued as part of the defence team of Pavlensky when he was arrested on charges of invasion of privacy and publishing sexually explicit images without consent.[10] Branco took the unusual step of requesting a psychiatric examination of the victim. The request, which was characterised by Griveaux's lawyer as grotesque and hateful, was refused by the court.[11]

Pavlensky was also arrested in February 2022 on suspicion of having inflicted injuries with a knife on two people during an argument at a party hosted by Branco at an apartment belonging to a girlfriend's parents on New Year's Eve.[12]

In September 2021, Branco received a reprimand from the Paris Bar Association for having posted a link to the offending video; this was overturned in the Paris Court of Appeal in June 2023.[13] In September 2022, investigating magistrates said that no charges would be brought against Branco, although they believed that he had probably played a part in the dissemination of the explicit videos.[14]

Sonko affair

In March 2023, Branco was invited to join the defence team of Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, who was facing charges of defamation after he had accused the tourism minister of mismanaging public funds, but was refused entry to the country after the authorities discovered he had referred to president Macky Sall as a tyrant in social media posts.[15]

In June 2023, in the wake of unrest in Senegal, Branco accused the Senegalese government of crimes against humanity, filing a complaint in France and calling for an investigation by the International Criminal Court. In July the Foreign Office responded by filing a complaint against Branco for having identified French agents in Senegal, thereby putting their lives in danger;[16] the Prosecutor's Office decided not to pursue the matter.[17]

Senegal meanwhile issued an international arrest warrant against Branco, which did not prevent him entering the country illegally to attend a press conference of Sonko's legal team on 30 July 2023.[18] He evaded the authorities until August 4th, when he was arrested while attempting to leave the country. Transferred to Rebeuss prison in Dakar, he appeared before a judge on 6 August and was charged with conspiracy, spreading fake news and endangering public safety.[19]

Cases involving Branco in personal capacity

In April 2021, a 20-year-old woman accused Branco of raping her after he had given her the drug lalamine, and taken it himself. Branco said the sex was consensual.[20]

In 2023, a woman who had worked in Branco's office for several months made a claim to an employment tribunal, accusing Branco of contravening employment law, with the case due to be heard in October 2023. "He presents himself as the defender of the widow and the orphan, but behind the scenes he exploits his employees", she said. Branco countered by accusing her of blackmail, but his complaint was dismissed.[21]

Questions of integrity

Apart from his involvement in the Griveaux affair, Branco has had his integrity called into question on a number of occasions.

He has been accused of embellishing his CV, for example by claiming to have worked as a special assistant to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court when, according to the Court, he was an intern.[22]

In October 2016 Branco wrote to Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the ten terrorists who carried out the attacks in Paris on 13 November 2015, in Fleury-Mérogis Prison. He offered his services as a lawyer and suggested possible tactics for a defence. As he was not yet admitted to the bar and therefore not legally permitted to practice law, a number of lawyers characterised Branco's actions as illegal. Branco explained that in October 2016 he had already qualified as a lawyer and could have been admitted to the bar at any time.[23] Abdeslam did not reply to the letter.[24]

In 2018, Branco was accused of outing his former classmate and government spokesman Gabriel Attal on Twitter as gay; he responded that the object of his tweet was to draw attention to nepotism in government circles rather than to Attal's sexual orientation, which he assumed was already in the public domain.[25]

Self-promotion on Wikipedia

Since 2005, Branco has used multiple identities (sockpuppets) to embellish his own biography on Wikipedia and to settle accounts with others by portraying them in a negative way in their articles.[26] In 2014 he sent an email to the employer of another Wikipedia editor, in which he pretended to be a Wikipedia administrator and threatened legal action.[1]

Writing

Branco has written the following:

  • Réponses à Hadopi (Paris, Capricci, 2011, ISBN 978-2918040255)[27]
  • De l'affaire Katanga au contrat social global: Un regard sur la Cour pénale internationale (thesis) (Paris, 2015, LGDJ-IUV, 2015, ISBN 978-2370320582)
  • L'ordre et le monde (Paris, Fayard, 2016, ISBN 978-2213680880), edited by Alain Badiou and Barbara Cassin
  • D'après une image de Daesh (Paris, Lignes, 2017, ISBN 978-2-35526-164-0)
  • Crépuscule (Paris, Au Diable Vauvert, 2019) ISBN 979-1030702606
  • Contre Macron (Edition Divergence, 2019, ISBN 979-1097088125)
  • Assange, l'antisouverain (Paris, Éditions du Cerf, 2020) ISBN 978-2204133074

Crépuscule is Branco's most successful work, having sold more than 150,000 copies within a year of its publication.[28] The book is a critique of Macron's presidency and challenges his legitimacy as a president whose election depended on the support of oligarchs and media barons.[29] It originally appeared on-line in December 2018; an expanded version, edited by journalist and writer Denis Robert, was then published in print in March 2019.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Juan Branco, l'avocat qui intrigue". Paris Match. 8 March 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Des grandes écoles aux "gilets jaunes" en passant par WikiLeaks : qui est Juan Branco, l'avocat proche de Piotr Pavlenski?". France Info. 7 May 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Crépuscule: succès fulgurant pour le livre de l'avocat Juan Branco". Le Figaro. 9 April 2019.
  4. ^ "Affaire Griveaux : Ce qu'il faut savoir sur Juan Branco". Le Figaro. 17 February 2020.
  5. ^ "Les avocats de Julian Assange veulent demander l'asile politique pour le fondateur de WikiLeaks à Emmanuel Macron". France Info. 21 February 2020.
  6. ^ "Centrafrique : la Minusca expulse un expert français qui l'accuse de crimes". Africanews. 31 May 2018.
  7. ^ "Paris appeals court rules in favour of Paulo Branco on 'The Man Who Killed Don Quixote'". Screen Daily. 15 June 2018.
  8. ^ "France: 11 convicted of cyberbullying teen who slammed Islam". AP. 7 July 2021.
  9. ^ "Vidéos intimes de Griveaux : le rôle trouble de Juan Branco". Le Point. 14 February 2020.
  10. ^ "Le bâtonnier de Paris a demandé à Branco de ne pas défendre Pavlenski". Le Point. 19 February 2020.
  11. ^ "Griveaux : la justice refuse l'expertise psychiatrique demandée par Branco". Le Point. 11 March 2020.
  12. ^ "Pavlenski sera jugé pour «violences avec arme» pour une rixe au réveillon 2020". Le Figaro. 6 May 2022.
  13. ^ "Affaire Griveaux: la cour d'appel de Paris annule un blâme infligé à l'avocat Juan Branco". Le Progrès. 9 June 2023.
  14. ^ "Affaire Griveaux : Juan Branco échappe à la justice… mais pas Piotr Pavlenski ni sa compagne". Marianne. 6 September 2022.
  15. ^ "L'avocat Juan Branco expulsé du Sénégal en marge d'un procès politique". Le Figaro. 31 March 2023.
  16. ^ "Le ministère des Affaires étrangères porte plainte contre Juan Branco". Europe 1. 12 July 2023.
  17. ^ "Divulgation de l'identité d'agents français : le signalement du Quai d'Orsay contre Juan Branco classé sans suite". Marianne. 2 August 2023.
  18. ^ "Senegalese opposition leader's lawyer actively sought after surprise appearance". Le Monde. 1 August 2023.
  19. ^ "French lawyer for Senegalese opposition leader jailed in Dakar". Radio France Internationale. 6 August 2023.
  20. ^ ""J'avais peur qu'il devienne violent" : le récit glaçant de la jeune femme qui accuse Juan Branco de viol". La Dépêche du Midi. 2 May 2021.
  21. ^ ""Enquête: Au cabinet de Juan Branco, «il se présente en défenseur de la veuve et de l'orphelin, mais il m'a exploitée"". 15 July 2023.
  22. ^ "Affaire Griveaux : Qui est Juan Branco, l'avocat qui dit "avoir accompagné" Piotr Pavlenski ?". GQ. 25 September 2019. Archived from the original on 2021-10-21.
  23. ^ ""C'est un exercice illégal" : quand il sollicite le terroriste Abdeslam, Juan Branco... n'est pas encore avocat". Marianne. 25 February 2020.
  24. ^ "Exclusif: Quand Juan Branco écrivait à Salah Abdeslam". Valeurs actuelles. 22 February 2020.
  25. ^ "Juan Branco: "Nous serons probablement demain l'un et l'autre des ennemis principiels"". L'Incorrect (in French). 17 January 2019.
  26. ^ "Sur Wikipédia, les vies rêvées de Juan Branco". Le Figaro. 21 February 2020.
  27. ^ Library of the Congress
  28. ^ "Derrière la chute de Benjamin Griveaux, enquête sur le rôle d'un trio sans foi ni loi". Le Monde. 17 February 2020.
  29. ^ "Crépuscule» de Juan Branco, ce qu'il faut garder et ce qu'il faut jeter". Slate. 26 April 2019.
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