Brazilian police separate suspects in the death of Marielle Franco in different and distant prisons – World

• Photo: Rights Reserved

Marielle Franco

The three suspects of having ordered and planned the death of councilwoman Marielle Franco, shot dead with her driver, Anderson Gomes, on a street in Rio de Janeiro on March 14, 2018, were separated this Wednesday into three different penitentiaries in several regions of Brazil. The decision attempts to prevent the three suspects, with strong political power and influence in police circles, from articulating a common defense, combining versions or even planning a rescue.

The alleged masterminds of the brutal murders, the federal deputy Chiquinho Brazão and his brother, the counselor of the Court of Auditors of the State of Rio de Janeiro Domingos Brazão, and the suspect of having meticulously planned the attack, the former chief of the Rio police de Janeiro Rivaldo Barbosa, were arrested at dawn on Sunday in a surprise action launched by the Federal Police (PF). At dawn this Wednesday, the three, who since their arrest had been in separate wings of the Federal Maximum Security Penitentiary in Brasília, were divided into prisons thousands of kilometers apart, in an operation that included a large security apparatus and aircraft. of the Federal Police and with the support of the Federal Penitentiary Police.

Deputy (inspector) Rivaldo Barbosa will remain in the Brasília penitentiary under permanent surveillance, while deputy Chiquinho Brazão was taken to another maximum security federal penitentiary, in Campo Grande, capital of the state of MMato Grosso do Sul, and his brother, Domingos Brazão, went to the Porto Velho penitentiary, in the distant state of Rondónia, also administered by the central government. The three penitentiaries are more than two thousand kilometers away from each other and are all very far from Rio de Janeiro, the electoral stronghold and area of ​​greatest influence of the three.

According to the Federal Police report that supported the arrests, Chiquinho and Domingos decided to kill Marielle because the young left-wing councilor was disturbing their illegal business in a vast area of ​​the west zone of Rio de Janeiro controlled by a militia to which they are both allegedly linked. . The idea was presented to Rivaldo Barbosa, head of all police in the state of Rio de Janeiro, who, according to the PF and the Federal Supreme Court (STF), which ordered the arrests, used his knowledge to meticulously plan the attack, carried out by a former police officer, Ronnie Lessa, imprisoned since 2019 and who last November made an agreement with the justice system in exchange for a reduced sentence and charged the three.