The Federal Police preventively arrested this Sunday (24) federal deputy Chiquinho Brazão (União-RJ), his brother, Domingos Brazão, who is an advisor to the Rio Court of Auditors; and the former head of the Rio Civil Police, Rivaldo Barbosa. They are identified as masterminds of the murders of Marielle Franco, in March 2018, and driver Anderson Gomes, in addition to the attempted murder of advisor Fernanda Chaves. The attack completed six years on the 14th.
The action, part of Operation Murder, Inc., has the participation of the Attorney General’s Office and the Public Ministry of Rio de Janeiro. According to investigators, the operation targets the intellectual authors of the executions. The crimes of criminal organization and obstruction of justice are also being investigated.
In a note, the PF states that it is also complying with 12 search and seizure warrants, issued by the Federal Supreme Court, all in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
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On social media, Marielle’s sister and minister of Racial Equality, Anielle Franco, thanked the PF, federal government, Public Ministry and STF minister Alexandre de Moraes for their efforts. “We are closer to Justice”, considers Anielle. “Only God knows how much we dream of this day! Today is another big step towards getting the answers we have asked ourselves so much in recent years: who ordered Mari to be killed and why?
“It was Rivaldo Barbosa that I called when I found out about the murder of Marielle and Anderson and was heading to the scene of the crime. He was head of the Civil Police and received the families the next day with me”, said the former deputy and current president of Embratur, as well as a personal friend of Marielle, Marcelo Freixo, on X (formerly Twitter). “Now Rivaldo is in prison for having acted to protect those who ordered the crime, preventing the investigations from progressing. This says a lot about Rio de Janeiro.”
The arrests were made shortly after the investigation reached the Federal Supreme Court (STF), after an authority with privileged jurisdiction was cited in the process. In criminal matters, it is up to the Court to judge people with jurisdiction, such as federal deputy Chiquinho Brazão.
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The author of the shots that killed Marielle Franco and Anderson Gomes, Ronnie Lessa, reportedly handed over to the authorities last week the perpetrators and the circumstances of the attack on the councilwoman. At the time, the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Ricardo Lewandowski, approved the accusation and stated that Lessa’s collaboration had brought “very important elements” to solving the case of the councilor’s death.
To date, seven people have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the crime: Edilson Barbosa dos Santos, “Orelha”, identified as the person responsible for dismantling the case used on the day of the murder; Ronnie Lessa, identified as the author of the shooting;
Élcio de Queiroz, who confessed to having driven the car used in the execution; Suel, accused of providing a car for Lessa to hide the weapons used in the crime; in addition to Domingos and Chiquinho Brazão and Rivaldo Barbosa, detained this Sunday, identified as those responsible for the execution – the trio should be transferred to Brasília today.
(With Agência Brasil)
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