On Tuesday (18), the First Panel of Brazil’s Supreme Court (STF, in Portuguese) accepted the indictment filed by the Attorney General's Office (PGR, in Portuguese) against the alleged masterminds of the murder of Rio de Janeiro councilwoman Marielle Franco and driver Anderson Gomes, and the attempted murder of parliamentary aide Fernanda Chaves, which happened in March 2018.
All five justices who make up the collegiate voted to accept the charges. Flávio Dino, Cristiano Zanin, Luiz Fux and Carmen Lúcia fully followed the rapporteur's vote, Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
In this phase, the panel analyzes whether the charge meets the legal requirements and whether there is evidence of the crime and its authorship. The trial is being held by the Supreme Court, due to the privileged jurisdiction of Chiquinho Brazão, who is a federal deputy from Rio de Janeiro.
The judiciary accepted the charges, making brothers Chiquinho and Domingos Brazão, the former head of the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro Rivaldo Barbosa, as well as Military Police major Ronald Paulo Alves de Paula, and Robson Calixto Fonseca, a former advisor to Domingos Brazão, defendants who will face criminal prosecution for the crimes.
During the presentation of the charges, the Deputy Attorney General of the Republic, Luiz Augusto Santos Lima, stated there is substantive materiality to the accusations presented, which is why he defended the opening of criminal proceedings against the men accused.
"Considering all the conviction elements already mentioned, there is sufficient evidence of authorship, which was individually exposed about each of the men accused at this procedural stage. That's enough to recognize just cause for the criminal action," he argued.
The deputy prosecutor gave a lengthy account of the Brazão brothers' crimes, their relationship with militias and control of territories by criminal organizations in various regions of Rio de Janeiro. He also pointed out that the murder of Marielle and her driver was due to her strong opposition to the interests of Brazão's criminal organization.
"From mid-2008 to the present day, these individuals have been part of an armed criminal action, installed in the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro, aimed at the continued practice of crimes of irregular land parceling for profit, (…) in addition to other violent crimes needed to continue their illicit activities," he reported.
Defense tries to obstruct the trial and is rebuked by Moraes
The defendants' defense claimed that the Supreme Court should not be responsible for judging the case, since the alleged crimes happened before federal deputy Chiquinho Brazão was elected.
On this point, Justice Alexandre de Moraes said that, although he recognized that the crime of homicide had been committed before Chiquinho’s electoral victory, there was strong evidence of the subsequent use of his power and influence as a federal deputy to obstruct the investigation, which justified keeping the case before the country’s Supreme Court.
"The obstruction investigation and the criminal organization itself are related to his mandate as a federal deputy. There is no possibility of obstruction if there is no power of influence," said the Supreme Court justice.
Moraes also dismissed the suspicion of Justice Flávio Dino, raised by the defendants' defense, on the grounds that the magistrate had been Minister of Justice and Public Security at the time of the indictment filed by the Attorney General's Office.
At one point, Moraes reprimanded the defense for claiming that their defense had been curtailed because they supposedly hadn't had full access to the case file.
"It is unacceptable for a lawyer to come here and say he has not had access to all the case’s evidence. This is procedural nonsense," complained the justice.
The defendants
Chiquinho Brazão is a federal deputy from Rio de Janeiro, elected by União Brasil and expelled from the party after being arrested in March during Operation Murder, Inc., launched by the Attorney General's Office, the Rio de Janeiro Public Prosecutor's Office (MPRJ, in Portuguese) and the Federal Police. He is accused of first-degree murder and attempted murder.
Domingos Brazão, Chiquinho's brother, is a former member of the Rio de Janeiro Court of Auditors who was arrested during the same operation in March. They face charges of involvement in a criminal organization, first-degree murder and attempted murder.
Rivaldo Barbosa was head of the RJ Civil Police when Marielle was murdered. He is accused of having suggested the modus operandi of the murder to cover up for the killers, for which he faces charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder.
Ronald Paulo Alves de Paula, a Military Police major, is accused of monitoring Marielle's movements, and Robson Calixto Fonseca – Domingos Brazão's former advisor – allegedly supplied the killers with the weapon used to execute Marielle and Anderson.
