Europe 1 with AFP 11:25 am, November 24, 2021
The lawyer Juan Branco was indicted Tuesday for "rape" by a Parisian examining magistrate after the accusations of a young woman at the end of last April, we learned on Wednesday from a source close to the case. "The person was indicted yesterday on the count of rape. He was placed under judicial control," a judicial source confirmed to AFP.
The lawyer Juan Branco was indicted Tuesday for "rape" by a Parisian examining magistrate after the accusations of a young woman at the end of last April, we learned on Wednesday from a source close to the file, confirming information du
Point
.
"The person was indicted yesterday on the count of rape. He was placed under judicial control," a judicial source confirmed to AFP.
A 20-year-old young woman had filed a handrail at the police station in the 14th arrondissement of Paris on April 29, after meeting Juan Branco following discussions on the Instagram network.
The lawyer had denied any forced relationship with the young woman
The handrail is intended to report facts to law enforcement but, unlike a complaint, does not constitute a request to prosecute. An investigation had been opened by the Paris prosecutor's office, entrusted to the first district of the Paris judicial police (1st DPJ). In a long Facebook post, the lawyer and essayist denied any coerced relationship with the young woman.
After a stroll in Paris, the couple would have gone to the home of the lawyer, according to the version of this one, then would have watched a film before having a consensual sexual relation.
The next morning, the young woman would have "kissed" him before leaving, still assured the lawyer.
She would have returned in the evening "cold and troubled" by announcing to him that she had deposited a "handrail" on the advice of two friends.
Known for an anti-Macron pamphlet
After the revelation of the accusations, Juan Branco had assured, in a message to the press, that the complainant intended to "withdraw" her handrail as soon as possible.
In this handrail, according to
Le Point
, the young woman claimed to have taken an opiate, lamaline, with Juan Branco.
This one had confirmed in the program
Touche pas à mon poste
(C8), by comparing this drug to doliprane.
Juan Branco was taken into custody on June 1 in the premises of the 1st DPJ, then released at the end of the day.
His lawyer, Me Yassine Bouzrou, who did not respond to AFP on Wednesday, said in a statement that "it is very clear that what he is accused of is unfounded and that this custody was abusive ".
But the Paris prosecutor's office decided to entrust the investigations to an examining magistrate.
Juan Branco is notably known for a bookstore success, the anti-Macron pamphlet "Crépuscule", published online at the end of 2018 and then published by Au Diable Vauvert / Massot in 2019. He became the lawyer for the Russian artist Piotr Pavlenski in the case of the dissemination in 2020 of the video of a sexual nature of the former government spokesperson Benjamin Griveaux, then candidate for mayor of Paris.
Juan Branco was placed at the end of January under the status of assisted witness in this investigation.
He is also the subject of disciplinary proceedings by the Bar Council in the Griveaux case.