Marielle murder masterminds will face trial

A Supreme Court panel unanimously accepted charges against Congressman Chiquinho Brazão, his younger brother Domingos Brazão, and former Rio State Police Chief Rivaldo Barbosa for the 2018 murder of Rio de Janeiro City Councilor Marielle Franco and her driver, Anderson Gomes.

The decision means they will face trial for their alleged participation in the murders.

The Brazão brothers and Mr. Barbosa were arrested in late March for obstruction of justice in the case, a development that made massive headlines in Brazil. The União Brasil party quickly expelled Mr. Brazão from its ranks. 

The final Federal Police report on the case concluded that the Brazão brothers were the masterminds of the crime due to their involvement with so-called “militias,” the urban paramilitary police mafias that control vast territories in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Ms. Franco and Mr. Gomes were shot dead on the night of March 14, 2018. One year later, two former police officers were arrested under suspicion of having committed the double murder. In 2023, Élcio Queiroz confessed to participating in the hit as the getaway driver, and earlier this year, triggerman Ronnie Lessa struck a plea bargain confessing to being the shooter.

Back in 2017, when Mr. Brazão and Marielle Franco were both local lawmakers in Rio, he supported, and she opposed, a bill to extend deadlines to regularize land use in neighborhoods in the West Side of Rio de Janeiro city. This would allow people in the region — namely, members of the militias themselves — to sell land to future homeowners and order City Hall to provide services such as water, sanitation, and electricity. 

Congressman Tarcísio Motta, who also served as a Rio city councilor at the time and was a friend of Ms. Franco, has told The Brazilian Report that the bill “would have expanded the militias’ power.” City Hall regularly demolishes such illegal buildings in the so-called West Side of Rio de Janeiro. The legislation was ultimately struck down in a local court.

The Federal Prosecution Office pressed charges against the Brazão brothers and Mr. Barbosa in May.

Congressman Brazão is separately targeted in an ongoing House Ethics Committee proceeding to impeach him.

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