MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Sitting Congressman and former Rio Police Chief among those arrested for masterminding Marielle Franco's murder

Marielle Franco was 38 at the time of her murder

A Congressman and a former Rio de Janeiro police chief were arrested Sunday in addition to a third suspect in connection with the 2018 murder of activist Marielle Franco and her driver Anderson Gomes.

Congressman Chiquinho Brazao, former Rio Civil Police Chief Rivaldo Barbosa, and councilor of the Rio Court of Auditors Domingos Brazao are believed to have masterminded the crimes.

Franco was 38 at the time of her assassination. A black woman born in a favela who defended the Rio minorities, particularly against police violence.

“My daughter trusted him and his work. And he told me that it was a matter of honor to clarify” the crime, Marielle's mother, Marinete Silva, told GloboNews about Barbosa's arrest, while Franco's widow Monica Benicio said that finding the former police chief among the suspects was “great surprise”.

Anielle Franco, Marielle's sister and Brazil's current Minister of Racial Equality wrote on X that “Today is a big step forward in getting the answers to what we have been asking ourselves so much in recent years: who ordered Mari's murder and why?”

Last week, the Brazilian government announced that Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Alexandre De Moraes, who is handling the case, had reportedly reached a plea bargain with defendant Ronnie Lessa, a former member of Rio's Military Police who is already in prison on suspicion of committing the murders and who is believed to have leaked the names of the masterminds to the investigators. In July 2023, when the alleged driver of the car, also a former military policeman, Elcio Queiroz, confessed to his and Lessa's participation in the crime. Based on his statement, police arrested former firefighter Maxwell Simoes Correa in Rio, who was allegedly in charge of guarding Franco and hiding the weapons used in the attack.

Investigators believe that Lessa and Queiroz are linked to the paramilitary militias, denounced by Franco. According to the PF, Marielle's murder is related to her opposition to the interests of the political group led by the Brazão brothers, which has links to land issues in areas controlled by militias in Rio.

“The evidence of mediate authorship that falls on the brothers Domingos Inácio Brazão and José Francisco Brazão is eloquent. Based on the dynamics narrated by the executor Ronnie Lessa and the elements of conviction gathered during the corroboration phase of his statements, it appears that the brothers hired two services to carry out the murder of then councilwoman Marielle Franco,” the police report read.

“There is no doubt that Rivaldo Barbosa set up a real business counter in the homicide division directorate for deals that involved deliberately omitting or directing investigations towards people who were known to be innocent. To this end, Rivaldo did business with racketeers, militia members, and, as can be seen in this case, politicians, to make a financial and political profit,” it went on.