Died this Saturday in Villejuif, he defended François Besse, Richard Roman and Jacques Viguier.
Henri Leclerc, who notably pleaded for the defense of François Besse, Richard Roman and Jacques Viguier, died “on Saturday at the Paul-Brousse hospital in Villejuif of a stroke”, his daughter said.
Like many other lawyers on Saturday night, I would be the one who with your death, we lose a tireless defender of liberties whose commitment and talent will mark the bar and our entire justice system.
For 65 years, Henri Leclerc, son of a tax official and grandson of teachers, pleaded with the same passion major criminal cases and all social causes, establishing himself as a reference among his peers.
His legal pedigree is impressive: he defended Charlie Bauer and François Besse – two lieutenants of Mesrine –, Florence Rey, Richard Roman, Hélène Castel, Jacques Viguier, Véronique Courjault, Dominique de Villepin in the Clearstream case. He intervened as a civil party in the Omar Raddad case, defended Dominique Strauss-Kahn in the Carlton de Lille case.
The lawyer of the “leftists” since May 68
But when Henri Leclerc started in the profession, his “firm left” political commitment led him to other battles: from 1956, in the middle of the war in Algeria where he himself was sent to serve, he defended activists from the FLN and the MNA (National Movement Algerian).
After them, come the students of May 68 – he is especially the lawyer of Cohn-Bendit, Geismar, Sauvageot -, the miners of the North, the Breton fishermen, the peasants in struggle, the newspaper Libération founded by Jean-Paul Sartre. .. Henri Leclerc, massive figure and bushy eyebrows, became the advocate of all social causes.
From 1995 to 2000, he chaired the French branch of the League for Human Rights and was still its honorary president. He presented his final plea in December 2020 before the first civil chamber of the Paris court.