The Federal Supreme Court (STF) begins judging this Tuesday, the 24th, the defendants accused of ordering the murder of Marielle Franco, a Rio de Janeiro councilor, on March 14, 2018, almost eight years ago.
According to the investigation, the moral perpetrators of the crime are the brothers Domingos and Chiquinho Brazão, both with influential political and legal careers, police chief Rivaldo Barbosa, former head of the civil police of Rio de Janeiro, military police major Ronald Pereira and former member of the military police Robson Fonseca, advisor to Domingos Brazão.
The Brazão brothers are the main defendants: Domingos, who was a counselor at the Rio Court of Auditors, is being held in a prison in Porto Velho, in Rondônia, while Chiquinho, who was a federal deputy, remains under house arrest due to a serious case of heart disease. The public positions of both justify the trial in the STF.
The motivation for the crime, allegedly, was Marielle’s political intervention to prevent the expansion of the Brazão family’s real estate business and other militia members in the west zone of the city.
Rivaldo Barbosa, former head of Rio’s civil police, allegedly hindered the investigations.
Their arrest, two years ago, came after Ronnie Lessa, the author of the 13 shots that killed, in addition to Marielle, also the driver Anderson Gomes. Imprisoned since 2019, Lessa decided to collaborate with justice, in 2024. The other material author, Élcio Queiroz, who was driving the car from which the shots were fired, had already decided to collaborate, in 2023.
Marielle and Anderson were executed on March 14, 2018 after the councilor left an event with black women in the center of Rio. Halfway home, Ronnie Lessa, in a car driven by Élcio Queiroz, shot the vehicle 13 times, killing the councilor and the driver. Fernanda Chaves, Marielle’s advisor, survived with minor injuries.
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