French-Spanish lawyer Juan Branco, expelled Monday from Senegal where he had been imprisoned, called on Senegalese President Macky Sall to release “all political prisoners” in that country, during his first speech since his return In France. “I invite Macky Sall to make my release the first, to open the door to the release of all political prisoners to allow this democratic transition that the Senegalese people are asking for,” said the lawyer during a press briefing Tuesday evening in Paris.
Targeted since mid-July by an investigation by the Senegalese justice, Me Branco had been arrested on Sunday in Mauritania. Handed over to the Senegalese authorities, he was charged with attack, conspiracy, dissemination of false news and acts and maneuvers likely to compromise public security or cause serious political unrest, according to his lawyers.
Me Branco was expelled from Senegal on Monday and arrived in France on Tuesday morning. In Senegal, he takes part in the defense of Ousmane Sonko, an opponent engaged since 2021 in a showdown with power and justice which has given rise to several episodes of deadly violence. “I invite (Macky Sall) to put an end to the violence he is inflicting on Ousmane Sonko, to let him stand freely in the upcoming elections”, hammered Me Branco in reference to the presidential election scheduled for February 2024 in Senegal, in which Mr. Sall is not a candidate.
Mr. Sonko went on a hunger strike on July 30. Referring to his state of health, Me Branco clarified that the opponent remained “hospitalized, suffering in particular from kidney failure following his hunger strike”. “We asked Ousmane Sonko to end his hunger strike,” the lawyer said. “This man is building community and allowing thousands of others to find a form of hope and a sense of collective struggle, we need him.”
Me Branco “wished” that his “first words would be heard by the detainees of Rebeuss prison” – in the center of Dakar and where he himself was incarcerated – who “in a space intended to accommodate 600 people are 3,000, including 700 political prisoners piled up (…), forbidden to sleep lying down, many locked up without trial for months because they were wrong to think, to militate and to fight”. He also “paid tribute” to his Senegalese colleagues who, according to him, “face daily risks to their careers and to their freedom”.
