On Sunday morning (24), Brazil’s Federal Police arrested three suspects for being the masterminds behind the killing of Marielle Franco in 2008. She was one of Rio de Janeiro’s councilors and was murdered alongside her driver, Anderson Gomes. The three men arrested are Domingos Brazão, a current advisor to the State Court of Auditors; Chiquinho Brazão, a federal deputy from Rio de Janeiro, and Rivaldo Barbosa, former head of Rio's Civil Police.
The operation was carried out jointly by the Federal Police, the Attorney General's Office and the Rio de Janeiro Public Prosecutor's Office, based on Ronnie Lessa’s plea bargain, which was approved last week. Lessa carried out the crime and shared the names of the masterminds. According to information from the Federal Police, the action arrests were made on Sunday because there were suspicions that the three men were expecting an operation.
In addition to the arrests, the agents also raided the Rio Civil Police headquarters and the State Court of Auditors.
On social media platforms, Brazil’s Minister of Racial Equality, Anielle Franco, Marielle's younger sister, expressed relief at the news. "God knows how much we dreamed of this day! Today is another big step towards getting the answers we've been asking ourselves for so long: who ordered Marielle’s murder and why? I thank the Federal Police, the federal government, the Federal and State Public Prosecutor's Offices and [Supreme Court] Justice Alexandre de Moraes for their commitment. We are closer to justice," she posted.
Six years
On March 14, the sixth anniversary of Marielle’s and Anderson’s deaths was remembered. They were shot dead in an ambush in the center of Rio de Janeiro on their way back from a meeting. The case echoed abroad but has still not been fully solved. Even with the arrests, the motives behind the crime have yet to be clarified.
In July 2023, former military policeman Élcio Queiroz, accused of committing the crime, gave details of the execution. Between the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, Ronie Lessa – also a former military policeman – who was accused of firing the shots, denounced the advisor to the Rio de Janeiro State Court of Auditors (TCE-RJ, in Portuguese), Domingos Brazão, as the mastermind.
The other side
Domingos Brazão's press office issued a statement to the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo stating that he was "surprised" by the Supreme Court’s decision. The TCE councilor states that he has "no involvement with the characters mentioned, stressing that allegations should not be treated as absolute truth, especially when they are the words of criminals who made murder into a profession".
To the news site UOL, Rivaldo Barbosa's defense justified the lack of a statement because they still don't have access to the case file or the decision that decreed his arrest.
So far, there has been no statement from federal deputy Chiquinho Brazão.
