Former police officer will report on the murder of Marielle Franco, says Minister of Justice

The Minister of Justice and Public Security, Ricardo Lewandowski, announced this Tuesday (19) that the plea of ​​former military police officer Ronnie Lessa was approved regarding the murder of councilwoman Marielle Franco (PSOL-RJ) and her driver, Anderson Gomes, in 2018. The approval was filed by the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Alexandre de Moraes.

“I have just been with Minister Alexandre de Moraes of the STF who officially informed me of the award-winning collaboration of former police officer Ronnie Lessa after having gone through a hearing with Minister Alexandre de Moraes’ assistant judge in which he confirms all the terms of the collaboration award that is obviously being processed in secret from the courts. And this minister did not have access to it, of course. But we know that this collaboration, which is a means of obtaining evidence, brings extremely important elements that lead us to believe that we will soon have a solution to the murder of councilwoman Marielle Franco”, declared the Minister of Justice.

Lewandowski also highlighted that the work carried out by the Federal Police in partnership with the Federal (MPF) and State Public Ministry (MP-RJ) was essential for the investigations into the double homicide to move forward.

“The process continues under judicial secrecy as everyone knows and is now in the competent hands of Alexandre de Moraes who will continue this process and certainly soon we will have the results of what was determined by the very competent action of the Federal Police which in a year arrived concrete results in this investigation. It is important to say that the PF’s work included the participation of the Federal and State Public Ministry”, concluded Lewandowski.

On March 14, 2018, Marielle and Anderson were murdered in the center of Rio de Janeiro. Both were returning from an event in which Marielle participated as a speaker when a silver Cobalt ambushed the car they were in and 14 shots were fired.

Those investigated as perpetrators of the murders of Marielle Franco and Anderson Gomes, former PMs Ronnie Lessa and Élcio de Queiroz, were arrested but are yet to be tried.

Élcio signed a plea agreement with the PF and confessed to having participated in the crime. He pointed out that Ronnie Lessa was the author of the shots. There is still no information that confirms who ordered the murder of Marielle Franco.