Brazil’s Supreme Court convicts 5 in Rio councilwoman Franco’s killing
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A five-judge panel of Brazil’s Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously voted to convict those accused of plotting the 2018 killing of Rio de Janeiro councilwoman Marielle Franco and her driver Anderson Gomes, a case that exposed deep-rooted ties between politics and organized crime.
The case has stirred emotions in the politically divided nation. Some see Franco as a martyr and symbol of left-wing resistance, while allies of former President Jair Bolsonaro have attacked her legacy and the tributes paid to her since her death.
The five men on trial for the killing of the 38-year-old human rights activist-turned-politician were former congressman Chiquinho Brazão; his brother who was a member of a Rio government watchdog, Domingos Brazão; his assistant Robson Calixto Fonseca; former police investigator Rivaldo Barbosa and former police officer Ronald Paulo Alves Pereira.
The Brazão brothers were convicted of the murders of Franco and Gomes and the attempted murder of Fernanda Chaves, Franco’s press officer who was in the car and survived the drive-by shooting. They were sentenced to 76 years and three months in prison.
Pereira was also convicted of the murders and attempted murder and sentenced to 56 years. Barbosa was convicted of passive corruption and obstruction of justice and sentenced to 18 years. Fonseca was convicted of participation in a criminal organization and sentenced to nine years.
The Brazão brothers were arrested in 2024 as alleged masterminds of the crime. Investigations have linked them to vigilante groups known as militias, which often antagonized Franco.
As he voted in favor of convicting the accused, Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the driving force behind the crime stemmed from a need to maintain “militia modus operandi, to preserve financial gains and to maintain political power in the area.”
The trial began Tuesday, with deputy Attorney-General Hindenburgo Chateaubriand arguing that all five suspects should be found guilty as charged and saying the Brazão brothers led a criminal organization whose primary target was Marcelo Freixo, a politician and current head of Brazil’s government tourism agency, because he interfered with their businesses. Franco worked with Freixo before she was elected councilwoman in 2016.
All the suspects had denied any connection with the councilwoman’s killing.
Prosecutors say many of the charges came from plea bargain deals signed with former police officers Ronnie Lessa and Élcio Queiroz, sentenced in October 2024 for the killings to 78 and 59 years in prison, respectively.
Amnesty International Brazil said the case revealed police corruption, obstruction of justice and the operation of organized crime within the state apparatus. “There will be no real justice, nor guarantees of non-repetition, unless these problems are addressed,” it said in a statement, adding that Brazil is one of the countries where human rights defenders are most killed.
The Marielle Franco Institute, set up after Franco’s death, said in a statement the convictions mark “a new Brazil. A country that affirms that the lives of Marielle and Anderson matter, that democracy does not tolerate the silence imposed by violence, and that justice is possible when the people stand tall.”
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Savarese reported from Sao Paulo.
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