One of the two lawyers of the Russian artist Piotr Pavlenski in the Griveaux case, Me Juan Branco, was placed at the end of January under the status of witness assisted by the investigating judges in charge of the case, AFP learned on Wednesday from corroborating sources.
Read also: Griveaux case: Pavlenski and Taddeo request the nullity of their arrest
Since mid-February 2020, judges have been investigating the resounding dissemination of videos of a sexual nature of former LREM candidate for mayor of Paris Benjamin Griveaux, which led him to withdraw from the municipal race.
On January 27, Me Juan Branco was questioned about the stormy conditions of his appointment as Piotr Pavlenski's lawyer but also about his degree of knowledge of the projects of the Pavlenski-Taddeo couple regarding the broadcast of the video on February 15, 2020 , according to a source familiar with the matter.
Before the judges, according to this source, Me Juan Branco said he had been asked as a lawyer by Piotr Pavlenski a few weeks before the scandal.
He declined to answer a number of questions specifically, citing his solicitor-client privilege.
From the same source, he disputed any personal animosity against Benjamin Griveaux, saying only that he was driven by a political goal.
The investigating judges "
did not invoke any incriminating element concerning me
", reacted Me Juan Branco, requested by AFP.
Placing him under the status of assisted witness in this procedure "
amounts
" according to him "
to noting the fact that, contrary to the insistence of the civil party, I will not be indicted, no new element being provided
", he congratulates himself.
Read also: Griveaux case: Juan Branco becomes Piotr Pavlenski's lawyer again
The status of assisted witness, which gives access to the file, is legally placed between that of witness and that of indicted.
It can be chosen by the judges for a person, when there are "
signs making it probable
" his participation in an offense.
This person can be indicted later, if the judges consider that they have gathered "
serious or concordant
"
evidence
.
On several occasions, since the beginning of the case, the examining magistrates successively seized of the file wrote to the president of the Bar of the Paris Bar to alert him of a potential "
conflict of interest
" in the appointment of Me Juan Branco as lawyer for Piotr Pavlenski.
In return, the President of the Bar Olivier Cousi systematically replied that there was no concern in the matter, said a source close to the matter.
In this case, Me Juan Branco is the subject of disciplinary proceedings by the Bar Council.
The decision on the outcome of his prosecution should take place "
before the summer
", according to the Council of the Order.
"
Its possible placement under the status of assisted witness does not change anything in the current procedure,
" added the Order.
To read also: Piotr Pavlenski releases a book on “his artistic approach of political art”
The Russian artist as well as his companion, Alexandra de Taddeo, to whom the videos had initially been sent by Benjamin Griveaux, were indicted on February 18, 2020 for "
invasion of privacy
" and "
broadcasting without the consent of the person of a recording of words or images of a sexual nature
”.
