SAO PAULO — Brazil’s Supreme Court convened Wednesday for a historic ruling determining the fates of five defendants charged in the politically charged 2018 assassination of Rio de Janeiro councilwoman Marielle Franco and her driver Anderson Gomes. The case continues to resonate deeply across the nation’s political spectrum.
The defendants include former congressman Chiquinho Brazão; his brother Domingos Brazão, previously a member of Rio’s government watchdog; their assistant Robson Calixto Fonseca; police investigator Rivaldo Barbosa; and former police officer Ronald Paulo Alves Pereira. All have maintained their innocence regarding the drive-by shooting that killed the 38-year-old human rights activist and politician.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, recently prominent in the coup case that imprisoned former President Jair Bolsonaro, presided as the first voter in the five-judge panel. The trial commenced Tuesday with deputy Attorney-General Hindenburgo Chateaubriand advocating for guilty verdicts against all five suspects.
Prosecutors allege the Brazão brothers and Fonseca operated a criminal organization, with four defendants facing double murder charges and one attempted murder charge. Franco’s press officer survived the attack. The case evidence substantially derives from plea bargain agreements with former police officers Ronnie Lessa and Élcio Queiroz, sentenced in October 2024 to 78 and 59 years imprisonment respectively for their roles in the killings.
Investigators have connected the Brazão brothers, arrested in 2024 as alleged masterminds, to vigilante militia groups that frequently clashed with Franco’s activism. Prosecutor Chateaubriand asserted the criminal organization primarily targeted politician Marcelo Freixo, current head of Brazil’s tourism agency, due to his interference with their operations. Franco had previously collaborated with Freixo before her 2016 council election.
The case has drawn international attention, with United Nations experts in Geneva recently urging “justice and remedy for all victims of pervasive systemic racism, structural discrimination and violence in Brazil.”