On October 31, the two former military police officers who murdered Marielle Franco in 2018 were sentenced by the Rio de Janeiro court to 78 and 59 years in prison. The murder of this Brazilian political activist, muse of the black and LGBT cause, had become a symbol of political violence in Brazil. The investigation into the sponsors is still ongoing.
“Justice is sometimes slow, blind, stupid, but it is done. It happens even for those who, like the accused, thought they would never be reached by justice.”
It was with these words that Judge Lucia Glioche pronounced, on October 31, at the Rio de Janeiro court, a historic sentence: the conviction of the two former military police officers who, on March 14, 2018, murdered Marielle Franco, as well as his driver.
This charismatic municipal councilor from Rio de Janeiro, from the black community and having grown up in the favelas, was one of the muses of the LGBT movement and a figure in the fight for human rights.
After two days of hearing, Ronnie Lessa and Elcio de Queiroz, the perpetrators of the crime who participated by videoconference from their prison, were respectively sentenced to 78 years and nine months as well as 59 years and eight months in prison. They should benefit from a reduced sentence obtained when they confessed in 2023 and because of their collaboration with the justice system.
Six years after the events, this is the first conviction in this case with worldwide repercussions. The brutal assassination of Marielle Franco, then aged 38, in her car, revealed to the world the omnipotence of organized crime in Brazil and the climate of political violence which reigns in the country and whose first victims are the figures from minorities and working-class neighborhoods.
This sentence was received with relief by the relatives of the victims who burst into tears during the deliberation. However, as soon as they left the court, they recalled that the masterminds of the murder had not yet been convicted.
However, three main suspects were arrested in 2024: Domingos Brazao, advisor to the Rio de Janeiro audit court and his brother Chiquinho, federal deputy, as well as Rivaldo Barbosa, head of the civil police at the time of the events.
Marielle Franco, through her activism, threatened the economic interests of the two very influential brothers. Although in prison, the latter retain numerous supports and, according to a testimony from the federal police obtained by Mediapart, the police investigation was parasitized by the disappearance of part of the evidence and the assassination of key witnesses of the 'affair. Those close to Marielle Franco want to believe in this justice, which is slow but which will, one day, be done.
