Marielle Franco Murder Trial Begins in Brazil

(ANSA) – BRASILIA, AUGUST 12 – Brazil’s Supreme Court began the trial today in the case of Marielle Franco. The young activist and municipal councilor was killed in Rio de Janeiro on March 14, 2018, along with her driver Anderson Gomes. In June, the court, accepting the complaint of the Federal Police, declared as defendants the councilor of the Court of Auditors of Rio de Janeiro, Domingos Brazão, his brother Chiquinho, a federal deputy, the former head of the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro, Rivaldo Barbosa, and the major of the Military Police Ronald Paulo de Alves Pereira. All of them had been arrested for this. In the hearings that will be held until this Friday, eight witnesses will be heard, including the two former police officers Ronnie Lessa, who confessed to being the perpetrator of the double homicide and who signed a plea bargain in recent months, and Élcio de Queiroz, who drove the car from which the shots were fired. The trial is only taking place six years after the events because, as the Federal Police also confirmed in recent days, the investigations were covered up by the former head of the Rio Civil Police, Rivaldo Barbosa. (ANSA).