The cry that reverberated in Brazil for years: “Who ordered the killing of Marielle?” now has a judicial response. Two dedicated to defending the interests of paramilitary criminal groups, the brothers Domingos and João Francisco (alias Chiquinho) Brazão, were convicted this Wednesday of ordering the shooting murder in 2018 of Marielle Franco, then 38 years old and a leftist councilor from Rio. The investigating judge has emphasized that this was a political crime that was also influenced by misogyny and racism. With this trial, as many as intellectuals of the most relevant political crime in Brazil in the last decade have been punished. Political violence has claimed the lives of some 700 Brazilians, including elected officials and activists, in the last 20 years, according to a . The magistrates will announce the sentences after the lunch break.
The Brazão brothers have been convicted of a completed double murder (the mayor and her driver), a third failed murder and for belonging to an armed criminal organization. Both are political veterans with long careers in Rio punctuated by suspicion over their dangerous friendships. Chiquinho, 64, met the victim when they were both councilors; he with several mandates behind him, she a newcomer. When he was arrested and formally accused of the murder, in 2024, he was already a deputy in Congress in Brasilia and was forced to resign from his seat. His brother Domingos, 60, was suspended from his position as advisor to the Court of Auditors in Rio, but maintains his position.
The Marielle case, which has opened a window through which to look into the fetid sewers of the city and the State of Rio de Janeiro, an underworld in which for decades organized crime has maintained close relations with politics and security forces to do business, secure electoral fiefdoms and guarantee impunity. The now convicted brothers led a militia group, as they call it in Rio, that is dedicated to extortion and real estate businesses. The confession of the hitman who shot was crucial to hunt down and punish the masterminds of the crime. The magistrates have highlighted that the bulk of the accusation has been corroborated by documents and witness testimonies.
The court has acquitted the then head of the Civil Police in Rio, Commissioner Rivaldo Barbosa, of the double murder, due to lack of evidence. But he is convicted of obstruction of justice and corruption because the brothers had him on their salary, he helped them plan the crime and, later, he sabotaged the investigation from within. All aimed at guaranteeing impunity. Two other defendants have been convicted. One of the judges has emphasized that “there is no perfect crime, there is a poorly investigated crime, in this case, with intent.”
Marielle Franco from 2018 in an official car through the center of Rio when another car was placed in parallel. The killer, a former military police officer, brandished a submachine gun and pulled the trigger. The councilor was shot four times in the head; the driver, Anderson Gomes, three from behind. Miraculously, Franco’s press chief, who was next to her in the back seat,
The case has been tried in the Supreme Court because one of the Brazãos was a federal deputy and qualified. Specifically, for the same room as for leading a coup plot.
In a very personal and emotional vote, Judge Cármen Lúcia Antunes Rocha has highlighted the sexist component of the crime. And it has been asked… “How many Marielles Brazil will still allow to be murdered?” The judge has confessed that the day after the execution that shocked the country, she could hardly imagine that eight years later she would be judging those responsible.
When the Brazãos commissioned the murder of Marielle Franco, they pursued a double objective, according to the judges: to eliminate a political opponent who, as part of the Socialism and Liberty Parties (PSOL), represented an obstacle to their economic interests and, incidentally, to send a message to anyone who dared to imitate her.
Their honors have emphasized that in other ingredients of this political murder: “Councilwoman Marielle was a poor, black woman, who dared to go against the interests of militiamen, rich white men. That was the message. Their mistake was that they did not expect that great repercussion”, in the words of the case’s instructor, .
The victim was a novice and seasoned mayor, unknown outside of Rio, whose unique profile and the political situation in 2018 catapulted into a symbol of the resistance of the Brazilian left against the extreme right of Bolsonarism.
None of those involved in the crime imagined the national and international repercussion that the murder of that black councilor raised in the Rio favela of Maré, a human rights activist and defender of LGTB+ rights, mother of a daughter and married to another woman, would have. Brazil was going through some very turbulent months. With the left very weakened and the entry into prison of its charismatic great leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to serve a sentence for corruption that was annulled, and the extreme right was set to win the elections, the Marielle case became the great symbol of resistance.
That of Marielle Franco is the political murder with the most impact in the last decade, but not exceptional except for having gone to trial and leading to convictions of those responsible. His enemies actually considered killing a party colleague, a white man, but gave up, convinced that .
The survivor of the shooting and the families of the two victims have followed the trial in the first rows of the courtroom. Among them, the mayor’s sister, Anielle Franco, whom Lula will appoint in 2023. The president also increased the means to investigate the case.
