Brazil’s Prosecutor’s Office has requested the conviction of brothers Brazão, accused of masterminding the 2018 assassination of councilwoman Marielle Franco, supporting the version of confessed murderer, Ronnie Lessa.

The Brazilian Prosecutor’s Office requested on February, 25 the conviction of brothers Domingos and Chiquinho Brazão, identified as the masterminds behind the assassination of councilwoman Marielle Franco, which occurred on March 14, 2018, in Rio de Janeiro.

RELATED: Marielle Franco Was Murdered for Political Reasons: Lewandowski

The request was made during the first session of the trial at the Supreme Federal Court in Brasilia, where the representative of the Attorney General’s Office, Hindenburg Chateaubriand, argued that there is sufficient evidence to convict the defendants.

According to the prosecutor, the brothers, “fed up with the confrontations with the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL, in Spanish) and with Marielle Franco, decided on murder.”

During his statement, Chateaubriand indicated that the brothers’ main target was former congressman Marcelo Freixo, known for his fight against the militias that control a large part of Rio’s favelas. However, Franco became an “alternative target of the criminal organization” due to the political obstacles he posed for the Brazão brothers, such as blocking bills they were interested in.

The prosecutor also supported the version of events given by the confessed killer, Ronnie Lessa, who told police that the brothers hired him to commit the crime. According to Chateaubriand, this testimony has been “extensively corroborated” throughout the investigation.

The trial will also examine the case of three other public officials: Rivaldo Barbosa de Araújo Júnior, police chief and former head of the Rio de Janeiro Civil Police, accused of being the mastermind; Ronald Paulo Alves Pereira, a major in the Military Police, identified as responsible for overseeing Marielle’s schedule; and Robson Calixto Fonseca, a military police officer and former advisor to Domingos Brazão, who helped conceal the weapon used and was part of the group’s financial core.

A Long-Awaited Answer

The crime, committed on March 14, 2018, is finally receiving an answer after a long wait by family members and Brazilian activists.

According to the Landless Workers Movement of Brazil (MST, in Spanish), in an investigation presented by Justice Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Federal Court, the Brazão brothers decided to assassinate Marielle Franco because she opposed the vote on PLC 174/2016, known as the Land Regularization Bill (PL da Grilagem), which contemplated the regularization of plots in neighborhoods where militias operate in Rio de Janeiro.

Marielle Franco and the Socialism and Liberty Party opposed the bill, which ended up being approved on the day of the assassination, with 27 votes in favor.

“She was precisely opposed to this group that, in the Rio de Janeiro City Hall, wanted to regularize land for commercial use, while her group wanted to use that land for social purposes, for affordable housing”, the Landless Workers Movement commented.

The movement emphasized that “Marielle was murdered in a political context of coups in Brazil, where the class struggle is increasingly intensifying.”

Franco championed the fight for dignity in the favela territories of Rio de Janeiro. As a resident of Mare, she defended public security policies and the rights of the favela’s population, opposing the implementation of the Pacifying Police Units.

The councilwoman represented the struggle for the rights of Black people, women, favela residents, and the LGBTIQ+ population -groups rendered invisible by exclusion and social prejudice.

Currently, clarifying the facts, sentencing those responsible, and achieving justice remain central demands. The fight for justice in the Marielle Franco case has become a paradigm of Afroamerican, feminist, and poor resistance, transcending Brazilian borders.

The legal process in the Supreme Federal Court, which will resume this Wednesday morning, marks a milestone in the search for truth for a case that symbolizes the defense of Human Rights in Latin America.

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